The Last Word (21 page)

The last time Harry saw Mamoon was a few months later at a lavish dinner in a grand hall for another writer. Harry didn’t even know Mamoon would show up; he only wanted to spend the evening with Lotte, with whom he was living.

Just before everyone sat down, a dignified Liana, with her head bowed, wheeled the old man, trussed up in a dinner jacket and wearing his literary medals, into the magnificent room. Everyone turned to look, to whisper, to murmur and acknowledge that they’d been in the presence of the writer at least once. There wasn’t a decent bookshop in the world which didn’t carry this man’s work, nor a serious reader who had not heard his name. Someone began to applaud and cheer, and then everyone stood spontaneously; Liana looked up at them and wept while Mamoon moved his mouth soundlessly.

Harry went with Lotte to Liana and kissed her. He bowed to Mamoon and took his hand. Harry had written the book he’d wanted to write, without traducing the old man, and he hoped the writer knew that. Mamoon was badly shaven, and smiled lopsidedly; his eyes were milky. He appeared to greet Harry with a warm if not weak handshake, though looking at him, Harry doubted whether Mamoon had much idea of what was going on.

Liana said Mamoon slept a good deal of the time, and could barely speak or hold a pen. But his eyes were expressive as she fed him, and she loved him, she said, as much as she had the first time they’d met. Not that she had anticipated this kind of isolation or the necessity of such selfless devotion for so long. Alone in the country with Mamoon, Ruth and Scott, she was desperate for visitors, she said; why did no one come? She had spoken to Marion on the phone. As Marion had requested to say goodbye to Mamoon, Liana had invited her to stay: they would talk and talk. Poor Mamoon on his deathbed, thought Harry, surrounded by women he hated. No better way to go: that’s how he would have liked it.

Liana begged Harry to come for the weekend, but he wouldn’t be going back to Prospects House
in the near future. He had completed his work, which was to inform people that Mamoon had counted for something as an artist, that he’d been a writer, a maker of worlds, a teller of important truths, and that this was a way of changing things, of living well, and of creating freedom.

Hanif Kureishi was born and brought up in Kent. He read philosophy at King’s College London. In 1981 he won the George Devine Award for his plays
Outskirts
and
Borderline
, and in 1982 he was appointed Writer in Residence at the Royal Court Theatre. In 1984 he wrote
My Beautiful Laundrette
, which received an Oscar nomination for Best Screenplay. His second screenplay,
Sammy and Rosie Get Laid
(1987), was followed by
London Kills Me
(1991), which he also directed.
The Buddha of Suburbia
won the Whitbread Prize for Best First Novel in 1990 and was made into a four-part drama series by the BBC in 1993. His version of Brecht’s
Mother Courage
has been produced by the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre. His second novel,
The Black Album
, was published in 1995. With Jon Savage he edited
The Faber Book of Pop
(1995). His first collection of short stories,
Love in a Blue Time
, was published in 1997. His story ‘My Son the Fanatic’, from that collection, was adapted for film and released in 1998.
Intimacy
, his third novel, was published in 1998, and a film of the same title, based on the novel and other stories by the author, and directed by Patrice Chereau, was released in 2001 and won the Golden Bear award at the Berlin Film Festival. His play
Sleep With Me
premiered at the National Theatre in 1999. His second collection of stories,
Midnight All Day
, was published in 2000.
Gabriel’s Gift
, his fourth novel, was published in 2001.
The Body and Seven Stories
and
Dreaming and Scheming
, a collection of essays, were published in 2002. His screenplay
The Mother
was directed by Roger Michell and released in 2003. In 2004 he published his play
When the Night Begins
and a memoir,
My Ear at His Heart
. A second collection of essays,
The Word and the Bomb
, followed in 2005. His screenplay
Venus
was directed by Roger Michell in 2006, and
Le Week-End
in 2013.
Something to Tell You
, was published in 2008. In 2009 the National Theatre staged an adaptation of his strikingly prescient and acclaimed novel,
The Black Album
. His
Collected Stories
were published in 2010.

He has been awarded the Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts des Lettres and a CBE for services to literature and his work has been translated into thirty-six languages. He was awarded the PEN/Pinter Prize in 2010.

Plays One (
The King and Me
,
Outskirts
,
Borderline
,
Birds of Passage
)

Sleep With Me

When the Night Begins

The Black Album

My Beautiful Laundrette & Other Writings

Sammy and Rosie Get Laid

London Kills Me

My Son the Fanatic

The Mother

Venus

Collected Screenplays 1

Le Week-End

The Buddha of Suburbia

The Black Album

Love in a Blue Time

Intimacy

Midnight All Day

Gabriel’s Gift

The Body

Something to Tell You

Collected Stories

The Faber Book of Pop (edited with Jon Savage)

Dreaming and Scheming

My Ear at His Heart

The Word and the Bomb

Collected Essays