Tag: Books and literature

Nothing ever dies: Vietnam and the memory of war / Viet Thanh Nguyen and Michael Vann in conversation

All wars are fought twice, the first time on the battlefield, the second time in memory: Viet Thanh Nguyen ‘Americans liked seeing people eye to eye, the General had once told me, especially as they screwed them from behind’ – (From Chapter One of The Sympathizer) From the author of the Pulitzer Prize–winning novel The… Read More Nothing ever dies: Vietnam and the memory of war / Viet Thanh Nguyen and Michael Vann in conversation

Dilip

Atlas Schlepped

As some reviewers of Rand’s novels recognized, and as Popoff stresses, Rand’s thought draws on Nietzsche’s idea of the superman. Just at this time, Popoff points out, Superman comics also achieved widespread popularity. Since the caped man of steel was created by two young American Jews, who were doubtless inspired by a desire to overcome… Read More Atlas Schlepped

Dilip

What Sigmund Freud can teach us about the Middle East and #MeToo

In a world ravaged by war and sexual violence, a new edition of the great psychoanalyst’s works is a reminder of his continuing relevance Jacqueline Rose In 1935, Sigmund Freud wrote to a distraught mother that her son’s suspected homosexuality was no cause for lament, “nothing to be ashamed of, no vice, no degradation. It cannot be… Read More What Sigmund Freud can teach us about the Middle East and #MeToo

Dilip

‘Revolutionaries on Trial’ by Aparna Vaidik: Insightful new look at revolutionary past

Revolutionaries on Trial Reviewed by Harish Jain Aparna Vaidik, a professor of history at Ashoka University, is among the few scholars genuinely and keenly interested in the stories of revolutionaries who, through their extraordinary deeds, captured the imagination of a disheartened nation but were subsequently marginalised. Over more than a decade of fieldwork, she has… Read More ‘Revolutionaries on Trial’ by Aparna Vaidik: Insightful new look at revolutionary past

Dilip

India and the End of Empire. Selected Writings of Daniel O’Connor

NB: The Rev Daniel O’Connor was pastor of St Stephen’s College during the years I was there, in the 1960’s. He and his dear wife Juliet befriended me and my comrades, at a time we were considered trouble-makers. They did not agree with our politics, but for all that, never withdrew their affection. One of… Read More India and the End of Empire. Selected Writings of Daniel O’Connor

Dilip

Paul Fussell, ex-soldier, literary scholar & critic of war (1924-2012)

First posted May 27, 2012 Out of the mass experience of pointless death, a new way of speaking and writing, devoid of euphemism, arose, a plain style we associate with Hemingway.. The Great War chronicles the loss of the old rhetoric, of high pieties, of sacrifice and roseate dawns, in favor of “blood, terror, agony, madness, shit,… Read More Paul Fussell, ex-soldier, literary scholar & critic of war (1924-2012)

Dilip

Antony Beevor on the history of the second world war: ‘There are things that are too horrific to put in a book’

First posted May 22, 2015 The historian Antony Beevor tells Keith Lowe why his next book will confront one of the last taboos of the Second World War Antony Beevor has sleepless nights. When I met him recently at his west London home, he confessed this in a matter-of-fact way, and neither of us sees… Read More Antony Beevor on the history of the second world war: ‘There are things that are too horrific to put in a book’

Dilip