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Magnificent seven heroines of Shakespeare
Scholars have long pondered Shakespeare’s attitude to women, his sexuality, the misogyny demonstrated at times towards the Dark Lady of the sonnets, and his relationship with his wife, Anne Hathaway. But there’s no denying that he wrote marvellous roles for women. His heroines dazzle. Shakespeare gives his women the finest lines, say E. Foley and…
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Pop music from the 1950s to the 1970s
“I can hear music, sweet, sweet music,” sang the Beach Boys, and that’s what I am hearing, leafing through a marvellous history of pop music. Harvey Rachlin takes us on a spin down memory lane in Song and System: The Making of American Pop Music. Elvis Presley and the Beatles, Frank Sinatra and Bob Dylan,…
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Obama, Rahul Gandhi, Hindu nationalists and Indian history
For some six centuries, the leading power in India was Muslim, not Hindu, writes Andrew Robinson in India: A Short History. Beginning with the conquest of Delhi in the 1190s, the Muslims came to rule most of the country till the British supplanted them in the mid-18th century. Now, after centuries of domination by a…
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Simon Schama inspired by nature
The historian Simon Schama is a wonderful writer bringing historical figures to life, vividly recounting the past. He humanises history. Like any good writer, he also has the gift of metaphor. Striking analogies are to be found in his writing. He finds inspiration in nature as he writes about history. As a historian, of course,…
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Clive James on empire, Naipaul, and music
Books are like the web. I wanted to read more books by Clive James after reading one of his essays that led me to other authors. Along the way, James disclosed the secret of success in the arts. I will share it, too, but patience! James is celebrated for his style and wide reading. Both…
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How to read a poem — and fall in love with poetry
How to Read a Poem: And Fall in Love with Poetry is an exceptional book – a book on poetry that is sheer poetry. The author Edward Hirsch writes about poetry with a lyrical effusion. “I have tried to be as clear as possible… but I have also tried to give my prose the wings…
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T.S. Eliot and Four Women
TS Eliot was the greatest English poet of the 20th century. American-born in St Louis, Missouri, he died a British citizen in London at the age of 76 on January 4, 1965 – the year after the Beatles invaded America and made their first film, A Hard Day’s Night. The contrast between the austere Eliot…
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Salman Rushdie’s magical Victory City
VS Naipaul called Vijaynagar “the last great Hindu kingdom”. Now Salman Rushdie has brought it to life in Victory City, probably his breeziest novel since Haroun and the Sea of Stories, published more than 30 years ago. While Naipaul mourned the destruction of Vijaynagar by Muslim invaders in India: A Wounded Civilisation, and again in…
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Kolkata and Singapore
I wonder why there is no street named after Calcutta in Singapore, nor after Singapore in what is now Kolkata. For their histories are interlinked. Both were ruled by the British and share some street names. Both had Armenian Street, Synagogue Street, Elliot Road and roads, bridges and landmarks named after generals and administrators such…
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The magic and mayhem of Salman Rushdie
When Salman Rushdie graduated from Cambridge University with a degree in history in 1968 and said he wanted to be a writer, his father yelped in pain. “What,” he cried, “will I tell my friends?” Events eventually forced Anis Rushdie, a barrister who had also graduated from Cambridge, to change his opinion. Nineteen years later,…
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