A protagonist who is the epitome of vice From 18th century England, Daniel Defoe portrays the character of a woman who is born destitute and poor, who is wronged by fate but crafts her way in the world to establish herself as the epitome of vice. She is the angel of wickedness, deceit, lure and…
I read two novels back to back; Persuasion by Jane Austen. Miles apart from Persuasion; shorn of convention, vehemently personal and intimate, anti-establishmentarian, exuberant and seminal, looking for that ultimate epiphanous blast in a vortex of sex, booze and drugs; necessary perhaps to disembowel and disrobe yourself, to get engrossed in Life’s simple mysteries, to…
A reflection on Bulgakov’s celebrated novel and the strange, satirical world in which the magical and the political continually disturb one another.
The Monk by Matthew Gregory Lewis. A Romance was published in the year 1796. The word romance may be a little misleading and has to be understood in the context of the 18th century as Imaginary or Super-natural. Is there a place for the super-natural amidst human society? If the scriptures are to be believed,…
A reading of Márquez’s great fictional universe, where family history, memory, solitude and the magical become inseparable from ordinary life.
A novel by Charles Dickens espouses most of my predilections about the Novel; be it the plot, the characterization, an underlying philosophy, a love of humanity, the triumph of good over evil, the victory of the underdog, the rewarding of the morally strong and the general feeling of happiness and well being. So no wonder…
In the days of the Wild West, when writers were busy writing about questions like, freedom, love, morality, Edgar Allan Poe was delving into the more mysterious aspects of life which touched upon the eerie, the grotesque, the occult and the arcane. The stories of Poe have an aura of the mysterious and Gothic about…
Mary Braddon’s novel was published in the year 1862. The blurb calls it a disturbing exploration of the dark side of respectable Victorian society. Helen Maldon, Lucy Graham and then Lady Audley is the principal character of the novel. As her transformation from one figure to another takes place she works towards erasing her life…
What intrigued me about the novel was the ending. I could not understand why the novelist had to devote more than 6 pages for the preparations of war going on in France while Nana lies in the hospital bed. Nana leads a life of pleasure and un forbidden freedom. She is the embodiment of sensuality….
A return to Achebe’s landmark novel and the tragedy of an individual, a culture and a social order confronted by disruptive historical change.