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…
Category: Literature
An open letter to Assata Shakur in response to her autobiography
Dear Assata Shakur, I would like to start by saying that your autobiography has had a profound effect on me. You will always remain an inspiration for generations of underprivileged groups as well as students like me. I was much impressed by the clarity of your thoughts and the rationale for your goals. The quality…
Does Octavia Butler’s Wild Seed accurately describe life in real plantations as documented by historian Lerone Bennett?
Octavia Butler sets her novel, Wild Seed in the context of the transatlantic slave trade and US slavery. In the story, Doro gathers “his people” on farms and plantations along the eastern seaboard. In what ways are Doro’s fictional communities similar to the real plantations described by historian Lerone Bennett (chapter 4 of Before the Mayflower…
Hemingway’s ‘Hero Code’ in ‘Hills Like White Elephants’ and ‘A Clean Well-lighted Place’
Ernest Hemingway, alongside Scott Fitzgerald, William Faulkner and John Steinbeck, is a shining beacon of the American literary scene. He mastered both the novel as well as the short story forms. The scope of this essay is two of his short stories – Hills Like White Elephants and A Clean Well-Lighted Place. The two stories…
Livvie by Eudora Welty
Eudora Welty has made significant contributions to the cause of American literature. Born in 1909, she witnessed the causes and consequences of the Second World War, the Cold War and beyond. But her observations and insights into the collective American psyche during the twentieth century, especially that of the Southern states, would provide the material…
What did Socrates meant by “an unexamined life is not worth living”
Socrates’ reasoning in passing up the chance to escape his sentence after being condemned to death on fabricated charges Socrates is one of the most influential Greek philosophers, who as influential in ushering the Hellenistic Age. His powers of logical reasoning and the invention of the Socratic method has left a lasting impression on Western…
Shakespeare’s Personal Life and the Writing of Hamlet
It is a well-established fact that an author’s material for fiction is largely derived from his/her own personal experiences. And the greatest of English literary artists in the form of William Shakespeare is not an exception to this rule. The underlying thematic current in the play is tragedy. And based on what scholars have documented…
The importance of patriotism (aiguozhuyi) for Chinese intellectuals: A study w.r.t. Confucian values, historical events and the idea of ‘national humiliation’
It is a widely acknowledged fact that Chinese society and its prevailing culture are closely linked to its unique conception of terms such as ‘nation’ and ‘patriotism’. Contributing to this uniqueness is the fact that Imperial China of the last five centuries had evaded attempts by European Imperial powers to fully colonize it. Barring the…
Brief Analysis: Joe Turner’s Come and Gone by August Wilson
Jeo Turner’s Come and Gone is one of the most memorable plays written by playwright August Wilson. It is one instalment in The Pittsburgh Cycle series, which documents the lives and struggles of black Americans in early 20th century America. Set in the time of the Jazz Age, the book’s heroes are former slaves who…
Critical Review of The French Mathematician by Tom Petsinis
The book titled The French Mathematician by Tom Petsinis is one of the best of its genre. It is not often that biographies are written in the form of fiction. The author, having adopted the form of novel for this work, captures the essence of the character of Evariste Galois, the brilliant young French Mathematician…