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Realism of the great
Bard
G. K. Das
Postmodern Essays on
Love, Sex, and Marriage in Shakespeare
Ed. Bhim S. Dahiya. Viva
Books. Pages XVIII+197. Rs 595.
THE four-letter word
love, and another close to it, marriage, both traditionally important
domains of personal life and literature, seem to have fallen from the
high pedestal. Literary expositions of love and marriage by authors of
eminence from Shakespeare to Amrita Pritam have often tended to be
quizzical.
Tips for parents
Kavita Soni-Sharma
Your Child’s Emotional
Needs: What they are and How to Meet them
by Dr Vicky Flory.
Macmillan. Pages 213. Rs 195.
CHILDREN are not
miniature adults. Their physical and emotional needs are unique.
Unlike basic physical needs of food, sleep and shelter, a child’s
mental and emotional needs may not be obvious. This makes it all the
more essential for parents to acknowledge that a child’s mental
health is as important as his physical health.
Lid off the lies of the
British press
Deborah Orr
Flat Earth News
by Nick Davies. Chatto
and Windus Pages 408. £17.99.
IN his wide-ranging
investigation of the shortcomings of the global and British media, the
distinguished reporter Nick Davies contends that journalists have
become adept at creating what he calls "pseudo-events". It
is therefore a self-prophesying pity that the publication of Flat
Earth News may be, to some extent, turned into a pseudo-event in
itself.
How to measure ecological values
Jayanti Roy
Ecology and Human
Well-Being
Eds. Pushpam Kumar and
B. Sudhakar Reddy. Sage publications. Pages
404. Rs 1,100.
TO put a value tag on
the goods and services that we get from the ecosystem has been on the
agenda of economists and ecologists alike, as this can be of great
relevance in the execution and implementation of plans for the welfare
of human beings.
Dare to aspire and
achieve
R. L. Singal
I Bought the Monk’s
Ferrari
by Ravi Subramanian. Rupa. Pages 113. Rs 195.
FERRARI is the name of
the luxury car built by an Italian entrepreneur Enzo Ferrari (1898–1988)
in 1940. However, it was only after World War II that Ferrari came on
the roads, and over the past few decades its price has raced ahead to
over $1,50,000. The author pedalled a bicycle all his life to both
school and college although his father, a college professor, became
the proud owner of a scooter when the author was at school. I view the whole story
like a movie: Naiyer Masud
LIKE his short stories,
renowned Urdu litterateur Naiyer Masud also has an elusive quality
about him. Speaking to him shortly after he was bestowed with the
Saraswati Samman for the year 2007 for his short story collection Taus
Chaman ki Maina (The Myna from Peacock Garden) evokes the
same feel of no dramatic beginnings and endings that his stories are
known for.
Riposte to wrong-headed
revisionists
Ian Thomson
Mussolini And The Rise
Of Fascism
by Donald Sassoon Harper Press, £14.99.
IN 1919, Benito
Mussolini assembled a political ragbag of followers in Milan and
launched the movement that was to become, two years later, the
National Fascist Party. As the cult of ducismo strengthened in the
1920s, the high priests of Fascism began to hail their leader as
"divine Caesar".
West comes East
Boyd Tonkin
MOST people return from
a short trip to the Gulf laden with sparkling goodies from the bling-filled
malls; I came back with two books that I can’t begin to read
(although I can just about follow the page numbers). All the same, I
think that I picked up a far more enduring treasure: the first
Arabic-language editions, handsomely bound, of works by J`FCrgen
Habermas (The Future of Human Nature) and Stephen Hawking (A
Briefer History of Time).
Image blown in the wind
ROCK legend Bob Dylan’s
ex-girlfriend Suze Roloto has criticised him heavily in her biography,
calling him vain and a liar. She also reveals that she had to
illegally abort his baby in the 60s. Roloto, who appeared on the cover
of Dylan’s breakthrough album The Freeeheelin, makes these
controversial revelations in the book A Freewheelin’ Time set
to be released in May, conatctmusic.com reports.
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