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…
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…
A 29 km ride on the road leads to Nal Sarovar. A quiet, majestic lake around 20 kms in diameter, 140 kms from Anand. After taking a diversion from the main road we enter a narrow , arterial road tucked on both the sides with small hamlets. There the life of the city doesn’t trouble the populace.
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…
John Ford’s My Darling Clementine. I couldn’t spot the connection between the title and the story. Wyatt Earp (Henry Fonda) becomes Marshall of Tomb Stone along with his brother Morgan as law enforcer after their brother James is murdered by the Clayton gang and their cattle is stolen. Although Wyatt assumes the charge of Marshall…
I watched John Ford’s “Young Mr. Lincoln” starring Henry Fonda. The movie carries that distinctive stamp of John Ford’s genius. Young Mr. Lincoln is the story of Abraham Lincoln in his young years practicing as an advocate in a Country Court. Ford achieves the aura and the mood of those days when life was more…
Orhan Pamuk’s The Black Book. Intertextuality of the novel made it difficult for me initially. It is also largely about an extraordinary range of reading, and in-depth intensive reading of a particular subject: in this case history, theology and philosophy. Pamuk’s way of looking at the situation is what the novel is about; what are…
A cinematic moment achieves greatness in capturing a particular moment of life, a moment which although small and individual by itself, represents or even encapsulates an entire way of life, a culture, or the personality of the character in entirety; Charulatha swinging in the garden; What Blake calls ‘To see the world in a grain…
Watched the movie Salon Mexico; a B&W Mexican film. Shorn of melodrama or exaggerated display of emotion, the film tells the story of two sisters Mercedes and Beatriz. All alone in this world and fighting poverty, Mercedes’ only aim in life is to give Beatriz a proper education and see her lead a comfortable and…
Onibaba is an erotic horror story. It is about an old woman and her daughter-in-law living on the fringes of life, hunting down soldiers returning from the battle or killing embittered and emaciated warriors. They stash away the belongings of those who they kill to sell it to a local merchant who gives them sake…