Orientalism, a concept coined by the renowned American intellectual Edward Said has attracted praise and controversy in equal measure. While remaining Said’s definitive scholarly work, its thesis is a condensation of themes found in his other works such as The Question of Palestine and Covering Islam. To be concise, Orientalism can be defined as the…
Category: Classics
Book Review: All the Shah’s Men – An American Coup and the Roots of Middle East Terror by Stephen Kinzer
The book All the Shah’s Men was written by American journalist Stephen Kinzer. The subject matter of the book is the America backed coup-de-tat carried out in Iran in 1953, in which its incumbent Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadegh was forcefully replaced by Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. The latter was loyal to Western interests and it…
An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge by Ambrose Bierce: An Analysis
Ambrose Bierce’s short story titled An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge is one of the classics of the art form. The story could be read from three different angles. First, the political angle provided by the American Civil War of the 1860s. Second is the cultural angle, whereby the unique flavors of the American South…
Two great speeches: Ain’t I a Woman and Address to the People of the Free States
What do Ain’t I a Woman and Address to the People of the Free States by the President of the Southern Confederacy tell us about the divisions between people in United States during the 1860s? The 1860s were a tumultuous time in the history of the United States. Public discourse and debate centered on the…
Play Review: Hay Fever by Noel Coward
Authored by Noel Coward in 1924, the play Hay Fever was first performed the following year at the Ambassadors Theatre. The original cast included eminent actors and actresses from the Jazz Age America. These include Helen Spencer, Robert Andrews, Marie Tempest and Graham Browne who comprise the members of the Bliss family. Most of the…
Paris (2008) by Cedric Klapisch
The movie I chose for this exercise is titled Paris, released in 2008. This is a French language movie that I watched with English subtitles. Written and directed by Cedric Klapisch, the film stars Juliette Binoche, Romain Duris and Fabrice Luchini. While watching the movie on my laptop computer, I was able to identify some…
The reasons why Old Major’s teachings are wrong in the book Animal Farm
Thesis: “The character of Old Major in the story Animal Farm by George Orwell denies truths about the nature of evil when he says all men are the enemy and claims that mans’ removal will abolish the root cause of suffering.” Old Major’s assessment that human beings are the root enemy is not true. His…
George Orwell’s ‘Shooting an Elephant’ vis-a-vis ‘Uncle Tom’s Cabin’ and ‘Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl’
George Orwell was a champion of the underprivileged and the oppressed. Through his essays, novels and journalism he amply illustrated his solidarity with the downtrodden, be it the natives of colonial Burma or the working classes of Britain or the peasantry of Soviet Russia. The protagonists in most of his works of fiction are drawn…
My Antonia: Film Review
My Antonia, a film produced by Victoria Riskin and David Rintels, was released in 1995. It stars Neil Patrick Harris in the lead role. The cinematography and music are handled by Robert Primes and Lori Slomka respectively. Based on a classic literary novel of the same name by Willa Cather, the screenplay is adapted by…
Should the word ‘Negro’ be removed from The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn?
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, written by Mark Twain toward late nineteenth century is a vital contribution to the American literary scene. Criticized from various quarters for its overtly racist tone, the book, if anything, stands against racism and slavery. The rest of the essay will argue that there is no need for censoring or…