Vanity Fair
A reflection on Thackeray’s world of ambition, appearance and moral compromise, and on the unforgettable contradictions of Becky Sharp.
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Words are like rapiers.
The sharper they are, the deeper is their impact. Vocabulary wise English is a richly endowed language and has a choice of words or expressions to express every nuance of meaning or idea. One is in fact spoilt for choice. How many of us have not wondered why somebody is said to have been assassinated when it is plain murder, or why robbing a bank is not embezzlement or why there is a distinction between an autopsy and a post-mortem?
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Adventure Novels
Adventure novels are a distinct category which needs a special mention in my series of posts about the novel. My first foray into the world of fiction as I have mentioned earlier was with the novel “Round the World in 80 days” by Jules Verne. A roller coaster ride about a meticulous person, Phileas Fogg,…
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D.H. Lawrence and Thomas Hardy
Figurative expression as an aspect of the novel found in the novels of D.H.Lawrence and Thomas Hardy: Both the novelists engaged intensely with their subject and were also poets. Poems of D.H. Lawrence like ‘ The Snake’ and ‘Ship Of Death’ have a vitality and ardour which can be observed to a greater extent in…
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Varanasi: A Travelogue
Varanasi being in the news again, I went down memory lane and refreshed my visit to this eternal city in January 2013. This is more in the form of a travelogue and will be in varying tenses. “I’m travelling to Varanasi by the Ganga Kaveri express. Dry and deserted rural Maharashtra – Men in Dhotis and women too in Dhoti styled saris.
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The Brothers Karamazov
andom reflections on the novel (Part-24) This week my reflections are about one of the most profound novels that I have read –“Brothers Karamazov” In the world not everything is rational. If everything in the world was rational, nothing would happen. So, it would be unwise or foolish to look for solutions, logical outcomes as…
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The House of the Spirits
The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende is a novel which spans four generations of the Del Valle family, starting from Nivea, to Clara, to Blanca and Alba. Taking us through momentous events in the history of the world and the country at the turn of the 20th century and afterwards, the novel chronicles…
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Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
andom reflections on the novel- (Part-23) Zen and the Art of Motor Cycle maintenance. Robert.M.Pirsig Culture and Science or more precisely Art and Science shape different visions in each individual. What dominates our thought is what determines our world vision. Can people make quick adjustments between these two narrative veins: Art which is more about…
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The Man in the Iron Mask
The Man in the Iron Mask is a sad novel for me. Here there are the deaths of Porthos, Athos, Raoul and D’Artagnan. My first acquaintance with D’Artagnan was in my 7th standard when we had ‘The Three Musketeers’ as our English non-detailed text. Since then D’Artagnan: the fearless warrior, that unrivalled swordsman has grown…
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The Prince and the Pauper
Mark Twain’s. The Prince and the Pauper is an old tale of two people who look alike and change places, to experience life in both the worlds. Here it is King Edward VIII and Tom Canty, the pauper who swap places. The king in his sojourn into the world of his subjects is informed harshly…
