Revisiting Tolerance. Lessons drawn from Egypt's Cosmopolitanism

About Revisiting Tolerance. Lessons drawn from Egypt's Cosmopolitanism

How does a polyglot Jewish family from Alexandria, Egypt, get caught up in the power play of the Suez Crisis? In this fascinating ebook Egyptian-born writer Victor Teboul recounts his cosmopolitan experience and his family’s ordeal following the 1956 Suez Crisis and the expulsion of Egypt’s Jewish community.

 "Strangely enough, in Alexandria, we spoke so many languages and yet I do not remember anyone asking me to define my nationality. As if being multinational was the norm", recalls Victor Teboul as he describes in this revealing ebook the cosmopolitan flavour of his hometown and the abrupt departure of Egypt’s Jews.

 "When we played soccer, I admired my classmates because they were fantastic goalies or incredibly good at dribbling. I did not see them as Maltese, Italians, East Indians or Jews. So when war broke out, I was very surprised to discover that they were of this religion or of that nationality. Conflict, war, brought out these differences, but I also wonder if we had not already distanced ourselves from the Egyptians. Alexandria, for all its cosmopolitan atmosphere, was not immune to prejudice, recalls Teboul. As a pupil of a British school, had I not already been separated from Egypt’s culture?"

In this intellectually and emotionally overwhelming ebook Victor Teboul revisits our age-old concepts of tolerance and multiculturalism.  

(EBook cover. Victor Teboul Private Collection. Alexandria, 1954. Saint Andrew's School for Boys with schoolteacher Mrs Sasson.)

About the author

Victor Teboul, Ph.D., was born in Alexandria, Egypt. He lives in Montreal (Quebec, Canada). Victor is a writer and the founding editor of the Tolerance.ca webzine, which he founded in 2002 to promote a critical approach on tolerance and diversity.  He is the author of several books and numerous articles. He was a member of the Jury of Canada's Governor General's Literary Awards for non-fiction.

Victor has also written and hosted several radio series broadcast on Radio-Canada, the French-language network of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC). As an academic, Victor has taught literature at a college near Montreal and history at l'Université du Québec à Montreal. He was a member of the Superior Council of Education and the Quebec Press Council. He holds several diplomas and a Ph.D. from Université de Montréal.

The expulsion of Egypt’s Jewish community during the Suez Canal crisis, in 1956, was at the center of his widely-read novel, La Lente Découverte de l’étrangeté. "In his novel,” writes Nancy Snipper of The Chronicle, “Teboul introduced Maurice, a young boy totally at peace with the world. Part of the book explores this young boy's love affair with the multitude of cultures and languages swimming around him in Alexandria. He feels a part of everything - until war whisks off his father and family, and Christmas Eve becomes the last one spent in Egypt.

"The novel takes place in Montreal, France and Alexandria, and it is a recollection revealed through diary form of the events leading up to this war, the aftermath and a new life in Montreal that centres on Teboul's family. It covers a period from 1950 to 1990». 

Victor Teboul is a regular keynote speaker at various organizations and educational institutions where he is invited to speak on diversity in a multicultural world.

His latest novel Bienvenue chez Monsieur B. ! , which could be translated as ''Welcome into the World of Mister B. ! '' is a work of fiction which depicts the world of power and finance within Montreal's Jewish Community. During a radio interview at Radio-Canada International, Teboul said it takes ''hutspa'' to write a novel such as Bienvenue chez Monsieur B.!.

Reviews and excerpts of his works can be found on his website www.victorteboul.com

Victor writes a regular column on the Tolerance.ca webzine. His books can be purchased at kobobooks.com, at Indigo, in various bookstores, as well as on his personal website.