Blogcritics Author: umar trivandrum

Book Review: Tolstoy or Dostoevsky - An Essay in the Old Criticism by George Steiner

umar trivandrum — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 14:12:15 EDT

A young George Steiner fights ambivalence in battle between Tolstoy and Dostoevsky.
The greatest form of writing is melodrama, the acme of literature at which letter becomes scripture. But only Fyodor Dostoevsky has written that kind of melodrama. George Steiner, the "European metaphysician," takes on the difficult task of comparing him with Count Leo Tolstoy. Fyodor Dostoevsky, the man with God's print etched on his...

The Sex Life of Peacocks

umar trivandrum — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 12:48:38 EDT

Peacocks regularly attain tantric nirvana, and how!
Peacocks can fly and peacocks are famed dancers, but flight is their best-kept secret. The Jawaharlal Nehru University Campus in New Delhi is home to quite a number of these birds. On a summer morning, one might even see a gorgeous mass of feather and velvet taking off from the bush on one side of the road. The flight is short and heavy. The...

The Kamasutra Code (And Questionable Coffee Table Book): Ancient Treatise Is A New Bestseller

umar trivandrum — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 03:15:35 EDT

The ancient treatise on sex drives a publishing boom.
The Kamasutra is flooding the bookstores. This ancient treatise (the only sutraic text in the Western tradition is Aristotle's Poetics) on sex is a bestseller. But it is not everybody's idea of a coffee-table book.Reputed publishers like Roli Books have rolled out elegant illustrated editions. DC Books, the leading publishing house in...

Wheel vs. Wing

umar trivandrum — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 14:51:48 EDT

Thanks to Paul Theroux, air travel is pass�.
Air travel is unromantic, however hard Hollywood might try to make it look that way, especially now that the nose cone of the Concorde is a museum piece. Unlike trains, which allow you to get used to a place, airplanes don't give you the time to do that. It’s <I>bang</I>, and then you are in the middle of nowhere. The only...