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Language shapes
our world
Reviewed by Kuldip Dhiman
The Stuff of Thought
Steven Pinker
Penguin. Pages 500. £3.50.
SHakespeare
wrote famously in Romeo and Juliet:
"What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name
would smell as sweet." We might disagree with the Bard, for
although it is true that if rose had some other name, it would taste
as sweet, but it would depend on what that other name was.
Over
the top
Reviewed by Aradhika Sharma
Excess: The “Tehelka”
Book of Short Stories
By Jai Arjun Singh and Nisha Susan.
Hachette. Pages 192. Rs 250.
"ALL
year we would chase hard facts and interpret them, but at the very
end, in the last issue of the year, we would turn to fiction, to
remind our readers that a supple imagination is no less crucial to the
concrete world," wrote Tarun J Tejpal, Editor, Tehelka.
Excess is in keeping with the commitment that the Tehlka walas
made.
Ancient
world recreated
Reviewed by Kanchan Mehta
Kadambari
by Bana, translated by Padmini Rajappa.
Penguin. Pages 395. Rs 399.
BANA
(also known as Banabhatt) was one of the top Sanskrit writers in the 7th
century. Harshacharita, a pioneer Indian biography in Sanskrit
literature, has long been reckoned as his fine creation. Kadambari,
another of his great work, is translated and appraised afresh by Dr
Padmini Rajappa, to create interest anew in an old Sanskrit book.
Dames
in boots and berets
Reviewed by Tushima Rattan
She’s is a Jolly Good
Fellow
By Sajita Nair.
Hachette.
Pages 335. Rs 250.
A woman
in a man’s world and that, too, a domain like Indian Army where no
woman had ever entered to command the men definitely makes an
interesting subject. It is a repertoire of her experiences as a Short
Service Commission Officer in the Army that inspired Sajita Nair to
start working on her maiden novel.
Diaspora
decoded
Madhusree Chatterjee
Asian and diaspora fiction are not very different from each other,
says author Monica Ali
BRITISH
novelist of Bangladeshi origin Monica Ali, who is a judge for the Man
Asian Literary Prize 2010, says the English language is evolving in
exciting new ways. She also believes that diaspora fiction is not very
different from Asian writing, as in the end, readers just want a good,
well-told story.
Tête-à-tête
Layered
perspective
Nonika Singh
Undeniably
the czarina of Punjabi theatre, Neelam Mansingh Chowdhry occupies an
unassailable position. So, what drives the woman who has been scaling
heights of excellence ever since she formed her theatre group, The
Company, some 26 years ago.
SHORT TAKES
Deconstructing an icon
Reviewed by Randeep Wadehra
SMG Sportingly Spoilsport
by Kishin R. Wadhwaney.
Siddharth Publications.
Pages 232. Rs 500.
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