Month: June 2024

Naidu, Nitish Ignore the Pain of All Those Who Have Suffered During Modi’s 10-Year Tenure

It’s all the more striking that Chandrababu Naidu and Nitish Kumar have run to be alongside Narendra Modi as he prepares once again to step into the role of the prime minister after describing the country’s largest minority group as “infiltrators”.  Anand Sahay It is noteworthy that two leading political figures — the resurrected Andhra… Read More Naidu, Nitish Ignore the Pain of All Those Who Have Suffered During Modi’s 10-Year Tenure

Dilip

The Grit That Makes the Pearl: An Interview With Paul Theroux

I am appalled by today’s sensitivities—how easily people take offense. It impels me to be offensive, or at least to ignore the shrinking violets. George Salis: Your latest book is Burma Sahib, a novel about a young Eric Blair (aka George Orwell) in India. What attracted you to this part of Blair’s life? Paul Theroux: A line in… Read More The Grit That Makes the Pearl: An Interview With Paul Theroux

Dilip

The Amini effect: The impact of a single life and the importance of accountability

NB: The crimes of the Iranian theocracy prompt the question: what is it in God’s will that calls for such barbarous cruelty and killing of people for leading an ordinary life? Does the tyranny of the Ayatollahs represent God’s will or is it simply the murderous rage of old men and hooligans using any opportunity… Read More The Amini effect: The impact of a single life and the importance of accountability

Dilip

Professor’s Harassment by ABVP Shows Near-Complete Takeover of Universities by RSS-BJP

NB: There’s no wonder why lacs of Indian students are migrating to campuses abroad to pursue higher studies (800,000 in 2022 alone). The Headquarters of Truth based in Nagpur have taken over most public universities. At this rate, nothing will be left for Indian teachers to do except praise whatever the RSS considers to be… Read More Professor’s Harassment by ABVP Shows Near-Complete Takeover of Universities by RSS-BJP

Dilip

Manifestations of the Devil: The writings of Maximilian Rudwin (1885-1946)

From the 1910s through the 1930s, Maximilian J. Rudwin produced some excellent pioneering scholarship on the European traditions of the fantastic in literature, especially as related to various manifestations of the devil.  Rudwin was an unusually peripatetic scholar, and virtually nothing has been written about him or his oeuvre. His trail has not been easy to… Read More Manifestations of the Devil: The writings of Maximilian Rudwin (1885-1946)

Dilip

A Lying World Order

Peg Birmingham: A Lying World Order: Political deception and the threat of totalitarianism (Arendt) argues that while the ancient sophists were satisfied with a passing victory of the argument at the expense of truth, modern sophists want a great deal more, namely, modern sophists want “a lasting victory at the expense of reality itself.” From… Read More A Lying World Order

Dilip

René Magritte: Empire of Light

Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice, 1976 © 2023 C. Herscovici, London/ARS, New York René Magritte; 1898 – 1967, Brussels, Belgium; Empire of Light; 1953–54 In Empire of Light, numerous versions of which exist (see, for example, those at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, and the Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique,… Read More René Magritte: Empire of Light

Dilip

The Brutalization of Israel Is Well Underway. If we do not act, collapse is only a matter of time

This is Haaretz’s lead editorial for June 7, 2024; as published in Hebrew and English newspapers in Israel Israeli right-wing activists attacking Palestinian freelance journalist Saif Kwasmi during a march commemorating Jerusalem Day, on Wednesday. Credit: Hazem Bader/AFP It is impossible to watch the photographic documentation of the ugly, violent demonstrators during Wednesday’s parade of… Read More The Brutalization of Israel Is Well Underway. If we do not act, collapse is only a matter of time

Dilip