The Arab Cultural Club organises "On the Pulse of a Story"

Poetess Qamar Al Jassim moderated the seminar and at the beginning of her presentation, she extended her appreciation to the cultural scene in Sharjah, saying that Sharjah is a cultural beacon that answered the dreams of creators along the Arab geographical map, and turned the flying, exceptional and glowing dream into a reality as His Highness Sheikh Dr. Sultan bin Muhammad Al Qasimi, Member of the Supreme Council and Ruler of Sharjah wanted, which made the cultural institutions active and effective in building the upward path for this great project.

Rana Al Asali is the author of a series of short stories and novels, such as ”Haunted by you”, “years of labour”, “the sound of his pulse”, “less isolated”. 

Rana Al Asali talked about her literary experience, noting that she was divided between the short story, the novel, and the prose poem, which was not planned, but was dependent on the moment she lived. She added that she finds at a specific moment a literary form that suits her more than the other, and so she produced her writings. She continued by saying that she considered that the novel is the most important thing she wrote, given the time, effort and comprehensive vision that the novel requires.

Al Asali read a story entitled "The Fabric of Memory" that tells about a deep human condition, where a father resorts to a strange trick to save his divorced daughter from her depression, sadness, and permanent wandering. So he pretends to be ill, and that he suffers from dementia. He resorted to permanent silence. When the daughter noticed his suffering, he became more important to her and stared to look for a cure becoming more preoccupied with him than her sorrows.  She corresponded with doctors, until she found a doctor who has a new invention that can restore memory, and even select or erase memories according to the patient will. This invention has not been tried yet, and results are not guaranteed, so he needs volunteers to test it. The daughter agrees with the doctor to test it on her father, whereas it might restore his memory.

During the sessions, the doctor shows the daughter a memory tape of her father.  She sees her father's relationship with her. She asks the doctor to keep the good events and erase the bad events. 

After treatment, she returns her father to their city, and notices the improvement.  Calling the doctor to thank him, he tells her that her father was not amnesiac, but he wanted to draw her attention to distract her from her sorrows. She discovers that she really got rid of her sorrows and thanks her father for that.