The only artist who ranks along side William Shakespeare in the galaxy of literary greats is none other than Fyodor Dosteyevsky. It is not difficult to answer this question because it is Brothers Karamazov. Constructed around a family of four brothers, all sons of Fyodor Karamazov: Alexei, the sensualist and emotional giant, Ivan, the rationalist…
There can be no exact classification because the genres seem to merge or converge at times. Taking Shakespeare as a starting point one could say we have Tragedy; Hamlet, Macbeth, Othello, King Lear: Comedy; Merchant of Venice, A Midsummer Night’s dream, As you like it and others, Tragi-comedy, The Tempest, History; Richard the second, Roman…
I remember reading Oscar Wilde’s short stories The Happy Prince,The Nightingale and the Rose and The Selfish Giant in my High school. Actually the first two of them were a part of the syllabus and the last one I found in another anthology. Those stories were the most beautiful pieces of Literature I have read….
Victorian Prose marks a high point in the English Literature canon. For the first time the novel takes precedence over other forms of writing. This is also the age of periodicals and magazines opening up a different way of reading and writing in the form of serialisation. The Victorian novelists: Charles Dickens, George Eliot, WM…
When somebody has studied English Literature at the Graduation level, it could mean he or she has a certain interest in the study of English. We see many people talking about communication skills in English which will put you on the highway to success, but really; Is proficient communication possible without the study of the Literature of that language? A student of Literature is expected to have a reasonable awareness of the writers, genres , the literary trends, the different ages and the movements in the growth and development of English Literature. Some of the books which helped me acquire a better understanding of the
My thoughts about Crime and Punishment and Brothers Karamazov resurface as I read Dostoyevsky’s Notes from the Underground. Human nature revels in his novels; revels in the candid display of monstrosity and hideousness, subterfuge and all embracing love. As a critic has remarked Dostoyevsky’s characters possess a dialogic imagination. They are very near to the…
One of the best books I have read in a long time is Orhan Pamuk’s My name is Red; a fantastic read. How do we describe a book where art and reality seem to seamlessly merge into one another? As I read the novel I was under a spell. I was carried away by the…
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn according to Ernest Hemingway “All modern American Literature comes from one book by Mark Twain called Huckleberry Finn.” The novel is a rich source to understand the American way of life in the early days of modernisation. For lovers of Nature and rivers especially, there is no better novel as…
Krishnamohan · Following MA in English (language), SV University (Graduated 1990) What are the best Russian novels? The Russians are the preeminent masters at writing fiction. The list is long and there are many contenders. Tolstoy and Dostoevsky will most certainly make it to the top. War and Peace, Anna Karenina, Brothers Karamazov, Crime and…
Not long ago watching movies in theaters was one of the things I looked forward to. I was born in 1968, and probably acquired some aesthetic sense to enjoy and appreciate good films in 20 years. Passionate remarks or casual discussions about the great movies of the earlier era by relatives or elders would make…