From Times Online
December 25, 2008
(The Times)
Harold Pinter was awarded the Nobel Prize in 2005
Patrick Foster, Media Correspondent
Harold Pinter, universally acclaimed as one of the greatest British playwrights of his generation, has died.
The Nobel Prize winner lost his battle with cancer yesterday, his agent confirmed. He was 78.
Pinter, who also enjoyed success as a screenwriter for film and television, was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2005, being hailed by the awarding committee as "the foremost representative of British drama in the second half of the 20th century".
However he was too frail to travel to the ceremony, having been diagnosed with cancer of the oesophagus in 2002. source
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From The Sunday Times
December 28, 2008
Harold Pinter: in the shadow of a giant
Harold Pinter peered into society’s darkest corners and his plays not only reflected what he found there but reshaped the wider world
Dominic Dromgoole
Harold Pinter casts a long shadow. Over poetry, over politics, over the theatre, over the texture of the world we live in. He was a giant in an age that lacks them. Through a titanic effort of will he managed to retain his stature and his authority for almost 50 years.
Theatre is a cruel business. It loves to inflate reputations and careers, just as it loves to throw up make-believe worlds from wood and canvas and paint. They sit there for a while looking stable and secure and somehow real. Then they are dismantled with a violent speed, which shames their careful construction, before being chucked in the skip. There is no shortage of heralded and hyped artists whose bubble reputations have burst with the same brutality. Coward, Rattigan, Orton, all dipped in and out of fashion. For Pinter to have retained his Olympian standing for so long is not the least of his achievements.
He used to visit the Bush theatre regularly. One evening he came into the pub beneath the theatre with all his usual prickly charisma crackling around him. A force field of restrained aggression always seemed to tighten the air around him. It was an aura prepared for arenas of competitive status such as the Ivy restaurant, or a theatre first night, or a party of the Great and the Good. But the Bush pub was full of its usual motley of feral junkies, plainclothes coppers and festive Jamaican grandads, and none of them paid him the slightest attention.
more
Thursday, December 25, 2008
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
A Time for Confessing
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Academic circles sometimes include a giant who publishes relatively little despite the pleading of students and colleagues. Such a figure was Robert Bertram, whom longtime colleague Edward Schroeder calls, in his grateful foreword, "the most unpublished Lutheran theologian of the twentieth century."
Bertram taught theology for 50 years in Lutheran institutions, including Valparaiso University, Concordia Seminary (St. Louis), Christ Seminary-Seminex and the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago. He published dozens of articles and prepared even more public lectures. However, when he died in 2003, Bertram left only one "book," a dissertation that engaged Karl Barth's critique of Luther, and a handful of larger projects with which he never quit tinkering.
Bertram taught theology for 50 years in Lutheran institutions, including Valparaiso University, Concordia Seminary (St. Louis), Christ Seminary-Seminex and the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago. He published dozens of articles and prepared even more public lectures. However, when he died in 2003, Bertram left only one "book," a dissertation that engaged Karl Barth's critique of Luther, and a handful of larger projects with which he never quit tinkering.
Sunday, December 14, 2008
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Best US Books of 2008
1. 'The Garden of Last Days' by Andre Dubus III
© W.W. Norton & Co.
The Garden of Last Days is instantly interesting and engaging, it grabs one's attention and holds it to the last page. It is compelling, thought-provoking reading that requires the reader to bring a "willing suspension of disbelief" for full appreciation. Strippers are human, too. Hijackers are human also. It is this last characterization that causes the most dis-ease as we read, but the effort is well worth the journey.
2. 'Hold Tight' by Harlan Coben
© Dutton
If there was ever a novel that called for a sociological flow chart,Hold Tight, a community murder mystery, is it. Harlan Coben has constructed a yarn with multiple points of view - a patchwork of tragically affected people connected to an incident of callousness and bad taste that festers into murder and suicide. And no one participant has any way of knowing how it all connects.
3. 'My Revolutions' by Hari Kunzru
© Dutton
My Revolutions is a thrilling novel in which idealism, anger, and social ambition fuel protagonist Michael Frame's involvement with a group of radical activists who protest the Vietnam War in 1960s London. The main character's turn to terrorism runs a recognizable course and offers striking insight into the modern tensions between individual and family, nation and state.
4. 'Outliers: The Story of Success' by Malcolm Gladwell
© Little, Brown & Co.
In The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell dissected the phenomena of social epidemics; and in Blink, he discussed the nature of split-second decision-making. In Outliers, Gladwell, the founding father of pop-sociology, examines high-achieving individuals and questions what makes them different from everyone else.
5. 'Serena' by Ron Rash
© HarperCollins
Set in Waynesville, North Carolina during the depression, Ron Rash's novel Serena traces the story of a wealthy lumber baron and his ruthlessly ambitious wife. Think Lady Macbeth in Appalachia.
6. 'Sharp Teeth' by Toby Barlow
© HarperCollins
Sharp Teeth takes the werewolf myth to new heights. It poses the question, "if there were werewolves - not just a single werewolf or even sporadic instances of lycanthropy, but lots and lots of werewolves - what would they do?" According to Toby Barlow, they would form packs like wild dogs, except they wouldn't be dogs - they'd be men.
7. 'State by State: A Panoramic Portrait of America'
© Ecco Press
State by State is beautifully bound as something approximating a 1950's textbook and contains essays on 50 states by 50 writers. Each contribution adds something unique to this collection of geographic essays with styles that range from Anthony Doerr's lyrical meditation on the Tukudeka Indians of Idaho to Jonathan Franzen's imagined conversation with New York State's publicist. The individual pieces, often eccentric and personal, are best taken one a day with adequate rumination before attempting to digest another.
8. 'Unaccustomed Earth' by Jhumpa Lahiri
© Knopf
Unaccustomed Earth finds Jhumpa Lahiri at the rising peak of her literary powers. These stories are longer (nearly novella length in some cases) than those in Interpreter of Maladies, her Pulitzer Prize collection of short stories. These new stories reveal a clear progression of her literary power from that first collection to her first novel, The Namesake, to now.
9. 'The Story of Edgar Sawtelle' by David Wroblewski
© HarperCollins
In The Story of Edgar Sawtelle, far and away the best debut novel of the year, David Wroblewski creates a beautifully imagined world filled with people who grapple with real issues. There is even a dog, Almondine, who shares her thoughts with us. This may be fiction, but it has the feel and punch of Life.
10. 'When Will There Be Good News' by Kate Atkinson
© Little, Brown & Co.
Kate Atkinson has intertwined what first seem to be many separate stories, giving an added sense of mystery: you know all the characters will connect, but the how and why aren’t always obvious; and the twists to get them there can make your head spin.
Must Reads in Literature
1. Mark Twain: Mississippi Writings
While you'll find more than one book in this Library of America collection, this volume is well worth it. You'll get a sense of why Mark Twain is such a well-known, and beloved, American writer. This volume presents some of Twain's most famous works: Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Life on the Mississippi, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and Pudd'nhead Wilson. These are works that are essential reading for young and old alike. You'll find adventure, and the stuff that great classics are made of.2. The Lord of the Rings
J.R.R. Tolkien spun his tales of fantasy and imagination with his legends of Middle-Earth--brought to life in his famous Lord of the Rings trilogy. Threaded through these pages is epic adventure, romance, heroism, the fight against evil, and the simple struggle of the smallest individual against the greatest odds. How could these few hope to overcome the overwhelming obstacles? How many horrific monsters could stand in the way?3. Dubliners
While not as famous as Ulysses, James Joyce's Dubliners is an introduction to this Irish writer's work, and these stories may leave you wanting to read more. This edition, from Oxford University Press, also includes eight specially commissioned maps of Dublin and an introduction by Don Gifford. Follow in the footsteps of some of Joyce's most famous characters!4. Middlemarch
Middlemarch, by George Eliot (Mary Anne Evans), is one of the great classics from the Victorian period. The complexities in this novel are amazing, as she creates her great web of society. Virginia Woolf once wrote that this work is "one of the few English novels written for grown-up people." Epic in scope (but about ordinary people), this novel is a must-read for every reader and writer. In this Norton edition, you'll find the authoritative text from the 1874 edition (the version last corrected by the author). This book also features the larger typeface for easier reading.5. The Great Gatsby
The Great Gatsby is usually the novel for which F. Scott Fitzgerald is best remembered. With this and other works, Fitzgerald forged his place in American literature as the chronicler of the Jazz Age of the 1920's. Written in 1925, the novel is a snapshot of the time period. We experience the glittery-splendiferous world of the wealthy--with the accompanying emptiness of morally decayed hypocrisy. Gatsby represents so much that is seductive, but his pursuit of passion--at the expense of all else--leads him to his own ultimate destruction.6. Le Morte D'Arthur
Le Morte D'Arthur (the death of Arthur) is one of the first books about King Arthur and his knights (and it's still one of the best-known examples of Arthurian literature); the work is a retelling of older legends and stories. Sir Thomas Malory likely started this work while he was still in prison. The first printing of Le Morte D'Arthur appeared in 1485, from Caxton. This Norton edition of Le Morte D'Arthur features the unabridged version, with the original spelling.7. Gulliver's Travels
Gulliver's Travels is an entertaining, madcap romp through fantasy. But, beyond the surface misadventures of Gulliver's travels, we find a core that is ripe with political satire. Jonathan Swift managed to make digs at the ruling class, intellectuals, and to offer very profound statements about humanity--with its pettiness, greed, and violence. This Norton edition of Jonathan Swift's satirical classic is based on the 1726 text, which is usually considered the most authoritative. The text of Gulliver's Travels is accompanied by annotations, which will help you understand Swift's references in a historical context.8. The Voyage Out
Virginia Woolf's The Voyage Out is a journey of self-discovery for Rachel Vinrace, who sets sail for South America. The book was Woolf's first novel, first published in 1915. Clarissa Dalloway first appears in this novel. Woolf went on to write Mrs. Dalloway, To the Lighthouse, The Waves, and many other works. This edition is from Oxford University Press. The wit of Virginia Woolf shines through in this novel. E.M. Forster once said this novel was "an americanca whose spiritual boundaries touch Xanadu and Atlantis."9. Great Expectations
Great Expectations is a novel by Charles Dickens, and it's often considered one of the greatest works of the 19th century. The book is a Bildungsroman--written between 1860-1861. In this novel, you'll discover the story of Pip, an orphan who represents some autobiographical elements in the life of Charles Dickens.10. Don Quixote
What can anyone say about Don Quixote that hasn't been said? The book's been around for four hundred years, has inspired virtually every literary movement from the eighteenth-century picaresque to the most obscure works of twenty-first century postmodernism, and has provided the impetus for critical works by everyone from Thackeray to Ortega y Gasset. courtesySunday, December 7, 2008
Catholic Cardinal Cormac Murphy O' Connor's book on Multiculturalism in Britain
London, Dec.7 (ANI): The head of the Catholic Church in England and Wales, Cardinal Cormac Murphy O' Connor, has said that while Britain has become an "unfriendly" place for religious people to live in, immigrant groups still have an obligation to understand, respect and adjust to "the ethos of the society they are opting to join."
He blames the rise of secularism as the key factor behind a British society that is liberal and is hostile to Christian morals and values.
Religious belief is viewed as "a private eccentricity" and the voice of faith groups is marginalized, he says.
Britain, the cardinal adds, is now showing signs of degenerating into a country free of morals, because of its rejection of traditional values and its new emphasis on the rights of the individual.
The book, called Faith in the Nation, is published by the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR), with the backing of Prime Minister Gordon Brown. more
Khairlanji : A Strange and Bitter Crop by Anand Teltumbde
Navayan Rs. 190.
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At the core of the story is the shocking episode of caste atrocity that happened in Khairlanji on 29 September, 2006, but came to light only a month later. The entire family of Bhaiyalal Bhotmange, a Dalit farmer of the Mahar caste –– comprising his wife, two sons and a daughter –– were lynched by a mob of caste Hindus of the village. The lynching was preceded by dastardly acts of sadism towards the victims, including thrashing, sexual abuse, gang-rape and mutiliation of parts of their bodies. The bodies of the four persons were dumped, following the massacre, into a canal that irrigated the farmlands of Khairlanji.
Teltumbde’s project is to put in perspective the Khairlanji massacre by reading it as a paradigmatic event of violence against Dalits in post-Independent India. Thus, after listing the notable cases of anti-Dalit violence in India since 1947 –– Kilvenmani (44 Dalits burnt alive in Tamil Nadu, 1968), Belchi (14 Dalits burnt alive in Bihar, 1977), Morichjhanpi (hundreds of Dalit refugees massacred by the state in Sunderbans, West Bengal, 1978), Karamchedu (6 Dalits murdered, 3 Dalit women raped and many more wounded, Andhra Pradesh, 1984), Chunduru (9 Dalits killed and dumped in a canal, Andhra Pradesh, 1991), Melavalavu (an elected Dalit panchyat leader and 5 Dalits done to death, Tamil Nadu, 1997), Kambalapalli (6 Dalits burnt alive, Karnataka, 2000) and Jhajar (5 Dalits lynched near a police station, Haryana, 2003) more
Friday, December 5, 2008
New Harry Potter Book, The Tales of Beedle the Bard
The collection is a reprint of five fairy stories that Rowling originally hand-wrote and illustrated on vellum as a gift for six close friends associated with the Potter oeuvre. All six versions were hand-bound, their covers inlaid with semi-precious stones. The stories are derived from a magical book used by Harry finally to defeat his adversary Lord Voldemort in the seventh and final book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, which was the fastest-selling book ever.
Romila Thapar awarded Kluge Prize of Library of Congress.
Kluge Prize for Romila Thapar
Special Correspondent
Romila Thapar
CHENNAI: Historian Romila Thapar has been chosen for the 2008 Kluge Prize for Lifetime Achievement in the Study of Humanity instituted by the United States Library of Congress. Dr. Thapar, who is Emeritus Professor of History at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi, will receive the $1 million prize along with Peter Robert Lamont Brown, Professor of History at Princeton University, in a ceremony on December 10 at the Library of Congress.
Endowed by Library of Congress benefactor John W. Kluge, the Kluge Prize is for a wide range of disciplines, including history, philosophy, politics, anthropology, sociology, religion, criticism in the arts and humanities, and linguistics, as well as a variety of cultural perspectives in the world. Each awardee will receive half of the $1 million prize.
According to a media release from the Library of Congress, both Dr. Brown, 73, and Dr. Thapar, 77, brought “dramatically new perspectives to understanding vast sweeps of geographical territory and a millennium or more of time in, respectively, Europe and the Middle East, and in the Indian subcontinent.”
Dr. Thapar, it said, “created a new and more pluralistic view of Indian civilisation, which had seemed more unitary and unchanging, by scrutinising its evolution over two millennia and searching out its historical consciousness.” more
Monday, November 24, 2008
Amitav Ghosh's Sea of Poppies reviewed by UMA MAHADEVAN-DASGUPTA
Sea of Poppies is the first of a planned trilogy, and this is a good thing because the novel ends rather dramatically. Despite the sprawling canvas, the pace never slackens for a moment in this most well-crafted of Ghosh’s novels since The Shadow Lines and The Calcutta Chromosome. Even more than a fine plot and rich historical detail, it is the language that carries the novel through more than 500 pages – a spirited, playful, passionate and fiercely, gloriously living language that throbs and thrives with every encounter between people and cultures, a language that turns and moves as naturally as the waters upon which the travellers sail.
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is the first of a planned trilogy, and this is a good thing because the novel ends rather dramatically. Despite the sprawling canvas, the pace never slackens for a moment in this most well-crafted of Ghosh’s novels since The Shadow Lines and The Calcutta Chromosome. Even more than a fine plot and rich historical detail, it is the language that carries the novel through more than 500 pages – a spirited, playful, passionate and fiercely, gloriously living language that throbs and thrives with every encounter between people and cultures, a language that turns and moves as naturally as the waters upon which the travellers sail. more
Friedman’s book, Hot, Flat, and Crowded reviewed by SHELLEY WALIA in the Hindu
After his now-famous The World is Flat, which he wrote for the corporate world, Friedman turns to green consciousness hoping that the executive world, which patiently gave its ears to his views on globalisation, will now be ready audience for his anxiety and warning about global warming and the acceleration of the melting of glaciers. It is in view of this urgency that Friedman’s book, Hot, Flat, and Crowded, comes as one more addition to the increasing literature on climate change, a bold and decisive step to raise an environmentally conscious public and shake off any complacency.
A sincere diagnosis of the ecological problem facing humanity, Friedman’s book uses opinions of various experts in the field of environment whom he has interviewed or has had serious discussions with. He is, indeed, deeply concerned with the fatal tampering with nature and the reckless misuse of our surroundings and draws the reader’s attention to the contamination of soil, water and air, affecting vegetation, birds and wildlife, and also to those who have the arrogance to refuse to be persuaded.
Friday, November 14, 2008
HIS LITTLE CHURCH WENT TO MARKET - Market Driven, Puurpose Driven Churches
Margaret L. Been writes:
In the non-fiction line, I’m currently building a resource library on the subject of the contemporary church: false doctrines, wolves in the flock, New Age undercurrents (mysticism, alternative medicine, yoga, reiki, etc.), and signs of the end times–including the Scriptural importance of and events centering on Israel.
I’ve just found two extremely helpful books: THIS LITTLE CHURCH WENT TO MARKET: THE CHURCH IN THE AGE OF ENTERTAINMENT, and THIS LITTLE CHURCH STAYED HOME: A FAITHFUL CHURCH IN DECEPTIVE TIMES–both by Pastor Gary Gilley, published by Evangelical Press.
Along with clearly portraying the market-driven, purpose driven, seeker friendly churches as having abandoned Biblical standards and true Christianity, Pastor Gilley delineates those aspects of our American culture which have given rise to the apostate Purpose Driven and Emergent Church movements.
Francis Schaeffer style, Pastor Gilley presents a comprehensive analysis of changing world views over past centuries–from Christian, Enlightenment, Modernist, up to the present Post-Modern paradigm along with the cultural changes that have characterized these views.
THIS LITTLE CHURCH WENT TO MARKET AND THIS LITTLE CHURCH STAYED HOME are written in a riveting style which includes occasional bits of wry humor. They contain historical background and literary references which always add dimension to information. The books are slim in size, but mighty in content–presenting enough food for thought to warrant many re-readings. more
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Stephen Pimpare: A People's History of Poverty in America
Review by Suzanne Niemoth
- Stephen Pimpare, A People's History of Poverty in America
Capitalism's unequal distribution of wealth and resources necessarily engenders economic "winners" and "losers." But the poor in the United States are often described solely in terms of moral failures: they're lazy, irresponsible and just don't want to work hard for success. Indeed, openly blaming the poor for poverty has been en vogue since Reagan's acidic "welfare queen" remarks. However, in A People's History of Poverty in America, Stephen Pimpare takes a decidedly less accusatory look at the history of poverty in our country. Told from the perspective of the poor themselves, the moving stories of hard work, bad luck, and almost insurmountable institutional inequalities brim with a quiet dignity.
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