Knife is Salman Rushdie’s account of how he narrowly survived an attempt on his life in August 2022, in which he lost his right eye and partial use of his left hand. The attack ironically came when Rushdie was delivering a lecture on “the creation in America of safe spaces for writers from elsewhere”, at… Continue reading In Knife, Salman Rushdie confronts a world where liberal principles like free speech are old-fashioned
Gabriel García Márquez (1927–2014) — affectionately known as “Gabo” — started his career as a journalist, but is best known for the novels and short stories that earned him the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1982. Alongside Peruvian author Mario Vargas Llosa and Mexican writer Carlos Fuentes, he was the best-known member of the triumvirate… Continue reading Gabriel García Márquez’s last novel is a moving testament to his genius
India’s government, led by prime minister Narendra Modi, implemented the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in March 2024. Opponents of the law — which fast-tracks citizenship for undocumented, non-Muslim migrants from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan — decry the ways in which it discriminates against Muslims. As they did when the law was passed in 2019,… Continue reading Indian protesters look to poetic tradition to resist Modi’s Hindu nationalism
There is a striking photo, taken in 2015, of a deactivated nuclear missile at an air and space museum in Tucson, Arizona. Written in dust on this missile are the words: “Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds”. These words, from the Sanskrit scriptural text the Bhagavad Gita, are famously attributed to J.… Continue reading “Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds” — the Bhagavad Gita explained
“Italy had its Renaissance, Germany its Reformation, France had Voltaire”, the historian Will Durant once commented. Born François-Marie Arouet, Voltaire (1694–1778) was known in his lifetime as the “patriarch” of the French Enlightenment. A man of extraordinary energy and abilities, he produced some 100 volumes of poetry, fiction, theatre, biblical and literary criticism, history and… Continue reading Voltaire’s Candide — a darkly satirical tale of human folly in times of crisis
The ability to distinguish between “good” and “bad” writing is a skill gradually acquired and perfected by the most avid readers. Some may attribute it to a simple game of recognition, where the skill of a writer is compared to the skill of their literary forefathers. If it seems stylistically similar or inspired enough, then… Continue reading Authenticity — a writer’s necessity
How does self-identification lead to the formation of relationships? Self-perception can be one of the most unreliable sources of one’s character; I will show how relationships are based on one’s idea of themselves, rather than who they actually are. I would like to illustrate how the ego prevents one from seeking friendships of those they… Continue reading The friendship contract of a murderer — examining friendships and self-perception in Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment
Katabasis — “a going down” — etymology: καταβαίνειν, Greek, “to descend”, from “κατα”, down, and “βαίνω”, I go. This essay deals with the question of how classical literary elements and mythology can be utilised in a way which enhances the critical and provocative in poetry which seeks to cut ties with tradition, in what at… Continue reading Classical katabasis in Allen Ginsberg’s Howl
