Charles Dickens - A Tale of Two Cities – June 14, 2012

We are celebrating the 200th birth anniversary of Charles Dickens. Gopa and Sivaram therefore selected this novel. It relies on Thomas Carlyle's account of the French Revolution and depicts the contrasting fortunes of citizens in the capitals of neighbouring countries, London and Paris. 

London was lawless and its common citizens were poor, lorded over by the nobility; the citizens of Paris were equally down-trodden, but are now caught in the throes of a violent revolt that will change the landscape of France forever, but not before a bloodthirsty period of head-chopping.

Mathew, Gopa, Kavita

As is true of Dickens' novels the characters are vivid. But there is little of Dickens' humour in this work, which came late in his life. Perhaps Dr Manette is the most striking person; he evolves from the mental trauma of solitary imprisonment to become heroic in stature. 

 KumKum

Madame Defarge symbolises the extreme violence and bloody vengeance the French Revolution heaped on the aristocracy, sweeping along many unwitting individuals implicated by false testimony.

 Kavita

The language is complex; Dickens seems to have revelled in long sentences and his style has the stolidity of the Victorians, but it has aged quickly. Lacking an editor, Dickens does not hesitate to pile detail on top of details; a judicious reader is forced to skip. 

 Priya

Google celebrated the Dickens anniversary with a doodle depicting a collage of his characters:

Here are the readers at the end:

Kavita, Priya, Zakia, Gopa, KumKum, Mathew, Sunil, Joe

Click below to read more ... 

Poetry Session on May 11, 2012

 Gopa

Long dead poets, recently deceased poets, and living poets inspired our readers' selections. The poets spanned the globe: India – 2, UK – 3, USA – 2, and Russia – 1.

 Talitha

For the first time there was a clash of the poets chosen by two readers, which indicates we need to pre-announce the choice. Perhaps, this will extend to the readings chosen within a novel too. Joe will work on a method to do that coordination online.

 Mathew, Sunil, Gopa

Our loyal reader, Thommo, is on a tour of India in a Tata Nano (the world's best car for the buck). We are all following his progress. Currently he is in Gangtok, driving on his way to the lovely Seven Sister states in the North-East.  Check out: http://manoetnano.com/

Priya

Since this is the two-hundredth year of Robert Browning's birth, the readers decided to celebrate it with an exclusive session that will feature Robert Browning, on Sep 14. At the top right of this page are the future programmes.

 Kavita, Priya, Talitha, KumKum, Gopa, Mathew, Sunil, Joe

Read on for a Ghalib exercise after scanning the full account below ...

The Stranger by Albert Camus ― Apr 13, 2012

The reputation of Albert Camus has never been higher. He was the novelist who captured the post-war sense of European civilisation in tatters. In his 1957 Nobel speech he said: "For more than twenty years of an insane history, hopelessly lost like all the men of my generation in the convulsions of time, I have been supported by one thing: by the hidden feeling that to write today was an honour."

Zakia reads about the trial

Camus' thought evolved with his writings and experience. When this novel is read with his later philosophical essay The Myth of Sisyphus, we see a vision emerging of how Camus surmounted the nihilism pervasive in much of European thought at the time – which gave rise to various streams of existentialism. But Camus' stance is unique as man of action, writer engagé, and novelist.

Thommo left early to test drive his Tata Nano

Is Meursault a 'queer fellow' as his girl-friend Marie suggests, or is he the normal male who enjoys the simple pleasures of life, and seeks to avoid the kind of  involvement with others that would abridge his own freedom? The irony is he gets caught up in a fracas, though he had no dog in the fight (as Texans say); and ends by losing his freedom totally!

Talitha, Priya, and KumKum at the Camus reading

Be surprised by who else read this novel lately:

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/16/opinion/16dowd.html

Here are the readers at the end:

 

Talitha, Zakia, Priya, KumKum, Bobby, & Joe

Click below to read more ...