Rabih Alameddine, author of "The Angel of History" is interviewed by Richard Wolinsky.

Born in Kuwait and now living in San Francisco and Beirut, Rabih Alameddine is the atuhor of several novels, including "The Hakawati" and "An Unnecessary Woman."  His latest novel deals with memory and forgetting, as a poet remembers his lover and others who died of AIDS during the '80s in the context of both the real world and a fantasy dialogue between Satan and Death.

In this interview, Rabih Alameddine talks about his life as an immigrant, as an Arab, as a gay person, and its relationship to his art. He also discusses the recent election and how it breaks through the fantasy of America's exceptionalism.

A shorter version of this interview can be found as a Bookwaves program.