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Don
of cultural studies
Reviewed by Shelley
Walia
Richard Hoggart: Virtue and Reward
by Fred Inglis.
Cambridge/Polity. Pages 259. Rs 2,372
It took a long time coming. The
first biography of probably the most eminent cultural critic of the
last century brilliantly captures the far-reaching and profound
influence of Richard Hoggart and his enduring concern for the ethical
quality of human existence. Fred Inglis vividly narrates the gripping
story of a young lad who grew up into a "figure of great
significance to anyone who cherishes the stuff of culture."
Where
mind is our majesty
Reviewed by Mehak Uppal
Obsession: Eternal stories of Life and Death
by Gurpartap Khairah, Bishwa Sigdel, Stormy Hazarika and Suraj Sinha.
Tara.
Pages 259. Rs 299
Aptly titled, Obsession,
the book is a collection of short stories by multiple authors, and
each of them shows how an idea or thought can capture a human being's
fancy and end up controlling his world. Time and again, the stories
convey the message that it does not matter what happens in an
individual's life, but what counts is how one responds to the
situation. Human beings are as good or bad as the psyche that governs
them.
Varied
hues of love
Reviewed by Geetu Vaid
The Love Letter and other stories
by Buddhadeva Bose, translated from Bengali by Arunava Sinha.
Rupa. Pages 214. Rs 395
EACH person has his own
definition of love and that is the reason why it is difficult to
fathom the depth of this emotion. And that perhaps is also the reason
why compilations of short stories dealing with the ‘highs and lows’
of love are among the most common volumes found on any book shelf or
on a reviewer’s table at any given time.
A
phenomenon called General Elections
Reviewed by A. Surya Prakash
An Undocumented Wonder: The Great Indian Election
by S.Y.Quraishi.
Pages 434. Rs 795
In April-May 2014, the Election
Commission of India (ECI) made arrangements for electors in the
country to exercise their franchise to elect 543 Members of the Lok
Sabha. It was attempting something that few institutions in the world
would dare to attempt, because of the sheer magnitude of the challenge
- a mind-boggling 814 million electors spread across a country that is
the most diverse society in the world in terms of ethnicity, religion,
language and culture and a nation that throws up geographical,
meteorological and demographic challenges in every region and every
state. Yet, by and large, the ECI ensured polling and achieved this
phenomenal feat with spectacular success.
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