Accidental Blogger
A general interest blog
Category: Books, Authors & Poems
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Our good friend and 3 QD contributor Elatia Harris' comment appears in an article in the WSJ as the last word on a story about a lovely poem by Sue Hubbard (another 3 QD contributor) that appeared, disappeared and has now reappered in a London public place. See the story (and Elatia's comment) here.
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There's a new biography out on Gandhi. It's true that the longer the time duration elapsed from a historical event, the clearer the eyes are that look back at the event. This book appears to be no exception. From the NY Times review: "He made a host of enemies along the way — orthodox Hindus…
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A simple, almost off-hand comment in this article (via 3QD), describing an interview with the estimable William Dalrymple: "It was during the writing of White Mughals that Dalrymple discovered something about his own family: His maternal great-great-grandmother Sophia Pattle was the daughter of "a Hindu Bengali woman . . . who converted to Catholicism and…
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Mention of Jewish mothers on a recent post reminded me of a story so titled : They say that four Jewish mothers got together in heaven. As they couldn't leave well enough alone, the conversation was all about their sons.– I can't complain, said the first. My son, to this day, brings me only happiness.…
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I am a sucker for words with too many syllables that evoke memories of first encounters with them. There's 'propinquity' which I met in an article bemoaning the location of Canada, which like Mexico (setting a distant God aside) has the US too close for comfort. 'Proparoxytone' – I think I'll save that for another…
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The following story was written by a friend (may be published online soon) and he agreed to share it like this. I dont take it as a prediction, but as an exercise in imagining what the logical consequences of certain trends could be…it wont actually happen because no trend continues in a straight line. Countervailing…
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The intersection of writing, fame and commerce that was the coda of Sujatha's last post triggered a memory of a crônica by Russell Baker that was included as a post script in an anthology titled "The Historian as Detective – Essays on Evidence", Robin W. Winks, Ed. Not the historian, silly! Wink, the editor, with…
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The first time I ever read Tagore was when I received a slim volume of his translated “Gitanjali” at the age of 12. I would read one or two little poems daily, mull it over briefly and get back to the busy life of a schoolgirl. The well-known “Where the mind is without fear” was…
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Arcane as this might be, I thought an old, old song that I had been listening to was foreshadowing the theory of evolution and the Tree of Life concept. It was a Malayalam poem, composed by Poonthanam Namboodiri of whom little is known, beyond a few barebones biographical details. The singer was a well-known playback…
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In 'Serious Men', his first novel, Manu Joseph has brought together a small group of well realized characters and set them at each others throats in the age old context of class warfare, Indian style. The conflict is set in motion through the machinations of the protagonist, Ayyan, who is motivated by an unrelenting hatred…
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I am alluding to writer Zadie Smith, the literary fiction star whose 2000 book White Teeth became a sensation even before it was published. Ms Smith has written a review of the movie The Social Network in the NYRB. She shudders at the proliferation of internet based social sites like Facebook and their soul sapping effects on real relationships. Without declaring it in…
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Arundhati continues her crusade against Indian oppression in Kashmir in the NY Times. Indian security forces have committed (and continue to commit) many serious human rights abuses in Kashmir and it is always good to highlight such abuses and that far, she can be said to be doing some good (as are many other human…
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My recent review of Giuseppe Tomasi Di Lampedusa's "The Leopard" generated this comment from reader Francesco Macri (FM) in which he mentions his own translation of the book. According to Macri, Archibald Colquhoun 's (AC) translation, the version I reviewed, does not quite capture the Sicilian nuances of Lampedusa's original writing. Upon my request, Mr. Macri has…
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Not being a great fan of historical novels and lacking any in-depth knowledge of 19th century European (specifically Italian) politics, I approached The Leopard with modest expectations. The book was a present from my daughter who had urged me to read it and when I showed little enthusiasm, she gave it to me as a birthday gift a…
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Set aside the fact that a recent story about the privatization of public libraries isn't really news. Library Journal was reporting on the company featured in the Business section of the NYT, LSSI, in a series of stories back in 1998. Ignore the recourse to the usual platitudes about the public library, the bits about…
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