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OFf
the shelf
Repulsion
juxtaposed with admiration
V. N. Datta
Pious flames: European
Encounters with Sati
by Andrea Major. Oxford University Press, New Delhi. Pages 258. Rs 625.
THIS
scholarly study of Sati, the Hindu practice of burning widows, is a
revised version of the doctoral and post-doctoral research conducted at
Edinburgh University between 1999 and 2004. It does not deal with the
origin, extent and abolition of Sati. It offers a different perspective
from books published since Edward Thompson’s first monograph on Sati
brought out in 1929.
Poetry
powered by realism
Ayyappa Paniker is rightfully
called the architect of modern Malayalam poetry. The Saraswati Samman is
a recognition of his contribution to literature, writes M.S.
Unnikrishanan
Awards
are nothing new for Kavalam Ayyappa Paniker. Padma Shri, the Kendra
Sahitya Akademi Award, Kerala Sahitya Academy Award, Kabeer Samman, Asan
Prize, Vyalar Award and Vallathol Award are but a few of the innumerable
awards collected by the Malayalam poet laureate.
Roaring
tiger, rampaging dragon
Himmat Singh Gill
Europe And Asia
Eds. V. P. Malik and Erhard Crome. Lancer, New Delhi. Pages 179. Rs 595.
BY
2020 or so, most strategic and economic experts are of one view, the
United States, China and India would occupy the first three slots in
economic well being and prosperity. Leaving aside the US, which will
continue to rank as the number 1 superpower, the other two countries lie
in Asia.
TRIBUTE
Literary
journalism at its best
A.J. Philip
HOW
did I get my first introduction to writers like Jean Paul Sartre, Gunter
Grass, Franz Kafka, Samuel Beckett, Pablo Neruda and Yasunari Kawabata?
I read about them in a weekly column that appeared without fail in Malayalanadu
in the early 1970s. Entitled Sahityavarabhalam (Weekly Literary
Forecast), it was penned by Prof M. Krishnan Nair.
East-West
encounter
Ash Narain Roy
Mullah Omar and Robespierre:
Essays in the Politics of Ideas
by Parsa Venkateshwar Rao Jr, Rupa. Pages 162. Rs 395.
AN
ancient Greek sage once said, "When you step into a river, you
change the river and the river changes you." The intellectual
encounters between the East and the West during the colonial period and
afterwards produced a similar result. India benefited from such
ideational encounter, so did great European and North American writers
and thinkers.
Has
no ground
Deepika Gurdev
The Tent
by Margaret Atwood. Bloomsbury. Pages 155. $18.
I’VE
been a huge fan of Margaret Atwood since I received my first collection
of Atwood books from a family I had stayed with in Canada during my
university days. As I read page after page of The Handmaid’s Tale,
I was in awe of her literary prowess. When
she won the Booker after three tumbles, I celebrated.
Fiction
meets history
Jyoti Singh
Nur Jahan’s Daughter
by Tanushree Podder Rupa. Pages 362. Rs 295.
Unlike
history that records facts dryly, as historians perceive them, Nur
Jahan’s Daughter is a peep into pages from the past with
enough room for emotions. Shifting the spotlight from powerful monarchs
to a sensitive and vulnerable child, the author claims to unveil the
life of Laadli, Nur Jahan nee Mehrunnisa’s daughter, by her first
husband Ali Quli alias Sher Afghan.
Gold
in the mud
Shalini Rawat
Ardhakathanaka: Half-a-tale
Translated, introduced and annotated by Mukund Lath. Rupa. Pages 293. Rs
995.
HOW
do you ensure yourself a place in literary history? You write and
hardsell a great book, see it climb the charts, sit back and count the
bucks and assure yourself that no researcher worth his salt can skip
you, since you are now part of The Canon. Kalidasa to Khushwant
Singh—all have probably been there and done that.
Back of the book
-
The Take
by Martina Cole Headline. Pages 505. £
6.00.
-
Tenacious
by Julian Stockwin, Hodder
and Stoughton Pages 346. £ 6.90.
-
Brand New Friend
by Mike Gayle Hodder and
Stoughton Pages 344. £ 6.90.
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