Tag: literature

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Fever Pitch: Two protoganists rivalry

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Nadia Davids, an award-winning South African author, paints a gothic psychological thriller set in the 1920s in her latest novel Cape Fever. A young Muslim maid finds herself entangled with the spirits of a decaying manor and the secrets of its enigmatic owner. In small unnamed city in a colonial empire in 1920, Soraya Matas believes she has found the ideal job as a personal maid to the eccentric Mrs Hattingh, whose beautiful, decaying home is not far from The Muslim Quarter of a harbour city where Soraya lives with her parents. She comes highly recommended to Mrs Hottingh through … Continue reading Fever Pitch: Two protoganists rivalry

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Good writing evokes sensations

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Robert Douglas-Fairhurst, an English literature professor at the University of Oxford, reveals his love of reading with his students, and collating twenty years of teaching, his book Look Closer explores the iconic works of literature that have formed, sustained and entertained him, from timesless classics like Wuthering Heights and Dracula to modern masterpieces like Normal People and The Handmaid’s Tale, as well as children’s books, poetry, plays, short stories, and even comics. Douglas-Fairhurst explains how to slow down, take note and bring a text to life, Look Closer makes clear how literature works and why in these turbulent times, reading … Continue reading Good writing evokes sensations

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Portraits of survival and resilience wins the Booker Prize

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Indian writer, Banu Mushtaq’s fiction Heart Lamp won the International Booker Prize this week. The 77-year-old writer  said “ I never dreamt it could happen. I don’t know how to express my emotions, except to say it is the greatest experience of my life”. Her translator Deepa Bhasthi 41, said “the honour lies in becoming the first translator of colour to win the annual award which goes to the best work of fiction translated into English. splits the £50,000 prize money equally between author and translator. Heart Lamp is a collection of 12 stories Mushtaq  exquisitely captures everyday lives of women and … Continue reading Portraits of survival and resilience wins the Booker Prize

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Curious history, endurance of English as a global phenomenon

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Would you believe it, two thousand years ago English was confined to a handful of savage tribes on the shores of north-west Europe, today, in one form or another, it is spoken by a billion people around the world. More widely scattered, written and spoken than any other language in history, English has become a global phenomenon. Exploring this amazing success, The Story of English is an essential companion for student and general reader alike. The Story of English discusses the influence of William Shakespeare and the King James Bible on the English language as well as how Early Modern … Continue reading Curious history, endurance of English as a global phenomenon

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Media Circus: Golden age of Magazines

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Graydon Carter’s brilliant raconteur of his own life of how he made his mark as one of society’s most talented editors and shapers of culture. Carter born in 1949, arrived in New York from Canada with little more than a suitcase, a failed literary magazine in his past and a keen sense of ambition. He landed a job as a floating writer at Time magazine in New York, selling 4 million copies a week, with salaries and expenses to match. After five years he was reassigned to Time’s sister magazine, Life, which “had become a zombie monthly, close to dead”. He … Continue reading Media Circus: Golden age of Magazines

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Happiness is contentment of having enough

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Paul Theroux, the bestselling novelist, travel writer and “master of the short story”  in The Vanishing Point, gives us an exotic but domestic, ranging from Hawaii to Africa and New England. Each focuses on life’s vanishing points – a moment when seemingly all lines running through one’s life converge, and one can see no farther, yet must deal with the implications. With the insight, subtlety, and empathy that has long characterized his work, Theroux has written deeply moving stories about memory, longing, and the passing of time, reclaiming his status, once again, as a master of the form. “I lost most … Continue reading Happiness is contentment of having enough

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Our fathers never taught us to be fathers…

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Chilean poet Alejandro Zambra, in Childish Literature, writes a collection of poems, essays and tales exploring the ups and downs of fatherhood especially orbiting around the theme of fathers and sons. Written in a state of attachment or under the influence of fatherhood, Childish Literature is an eclectic guide to rookie parents, revealing how the birth and growth of a child changes not only the present and the future, but also reshapes our perceptions of the past.   He ponders his unpreparedness: “Our fathers tried, in their own ways, to teach us to be men, but they never taught us to … Continue reading Our fathers never taught us to be fathers…

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Author whitewashed from history of colonialism and its aftermath

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A gripping literary mystery which unravels the fascinating life of a maligned Black author, based on Yamboi Ouologuem. In 2018, Diegane Latyr Faye, a young Senegalese writer in Paris discovers a legendary book. In 1938, a novel called Labyrinth of Inhumanity ws praised as “the masterpiece of a young African Negro, but due to some obscure scandal, the book disappeared without a trace along with its author, who was TC Elimane. No one knows what became of its author, once hailed as the “Black Rimbad” the book caused a scandal. Enthralled by this mystery Diegane decides to search for TC … Continue reading Author whitewashed from history of colonialism and its aftermath

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Passionate, Visionary writers discover recovery to sexual, political awakening instilling their creative flourishing

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In Rural Hours, Harriet Baker reveals the perceptive, eloquent stories of three very different diverse women, each of whom moved to the countryside and was forever changed by it. We encounter them at quite moments – pausing to look at an insect on the windowsill; jotting down a recipe; or digging for potatoes, dirt beneath their nails. Slowly but surely, we start to see transformations unfold: Virginia Woolf, Sylvia Townsend Warner, and Rosamond Lehman emerge before us as the passionate, visionary writers we know them to be. Following long periods of creative uncertainty and prorate disappointment, each of Baker’s subjects … Continue reading Passionate, Visionary writers discover recovery to sexual, political awakening instilling their creative flourishing