Charlotte Bronte’s novel ‘The Professor’ is a simple and steady novel about the life of Mr. William Crimsworth, a young man from an aristocratic family with no reliable connections or fortune. He is left to find his way in life. Although of not a very handsome nature, and endowed only with simple and plain features,…
From the novels written by Indian writers, I have planned a small detour to desribe three novels which I had the opportunity of reading. All the three novels are from the East and each of them has valuable insights into the art of writing fiction. Red Sorghum Red Sorghum is an intense novel from China…
How many times should one read a novel? This is a question that has been in my mind for a long time. With the amount of time at my disposal, after professional and personal work has been fulfilled and the large number of books which ought to be read, it is indeed very difficult to…
Having discussed the various aspects of fiction and what constitutes the art of writing, I have to dwell upon some books which have occupied a particular space in my thought and often foreground their importance when a discussion of fiction ensues. Largely due to fortuitous circumstances and also because cheap editions of them were available…
In our effort to understand the making (writing) if fiction, awareness of various strategies can enhance our understanding of one of the most difficult creative processes. Story, Narrative, plot, setting and dialogue have been discussed to some extent in my earlier posts. However one keeps coming across the word ‘structure’ in literary discussion, theory and…
In my Plus 2 Advanced English course, we had a one act play titled ‘The Little Man ‘written by John Galsworthy. It is a play about the Universality of the little man who is far taller than all the other characters in the play. What he lacks in terms of physical attributes is more than…
People say he is the most read author after William Shakespeare. One reads a short story expecting a twist in the tale, a sudden change in the plot, an unexpected turn of events etc, as in O.Henry, Saki or Guy De Maupassant. Sometimes the short story is an exploration of character, a delineation of a…
If I were to describe the Discreet Hero by Mario Vargos Llosa, I would call it contemporary. Don Ishmael Carrera and Fanatio Yanaque, both prominent businessmen face a threat and a challenge of sorts from their children. Betrayal, deceit and incest are common and these old men; harbingers of hard work and examples of dedicated…
Validation is what is generic to all disciplines which have a claim to the status of a science.Generally it has been established in the following sequence of events: Experiment, observation and inference or interpretation in the context of sociology. Such an experiment which when replicated in different situations or contexts can be validated . Validity is when such laws and hypothesis give a proper and proven result. Reliability is the authenticity of a law , a philosophical truth or a doctrine to enable comprehension and interpretation in the sociological context.
Of love and other demons by Marquez took me into familiar territory; the territory in my cerebral space which is especially reserved for the fictionary tales of Marquez. This space gets activated as the indicators that receive signals begin to infuse my creative imagination, for reading a manuscript from Marquez is like awakening my dormant…