Book Reviews Indrajit Bose The author at the Zakir Hussain Delhi College during the Bengali Literary Festival 2018 / Photo courtesy of bitanchakraborty.com Simplicity and quiet elegance never fail to impress us. The effect of a good short story often is like a fugue or an adagio in a musical composition, creating impressions fugitifs, in the best manner of the impressionists, sketching in a mood or elaborating on a motif or theme. Bitan Chakraborty’s The Mark (Shambhabi Imprint, 2020) is unquestionably a collection of short stories revolving around the everyday lives of ordinary characters that leaves an impression of serious engagement with the contemporary Indian milieu and is also aesthetically pleasing. Chakraborty is already an established author of the novel; his foray into the short story adds a further dimension to his existing repertoire. A writer must “convincingly create an illusory world if he is to captivate his readers,” Chakraborty has said, and he appears to have lived up to his aesthetic or writerly principles in The Mark. Peripheral and marginal lives lived by characters grappling with the challenging socioeconomic realities of our times, mediated with narratorial control and poise—these are what make the stories in The Mark a testament to the craft of a storyteller and short fiction writer par excellence. The stories in the collection revolve around everyday life and broad human themes—the despair and... Continue reading at 'World Literature Today'
[ World Literature Today | 2020-04-21 13:18:37 UTC ]
This week, Jabari Asim reviews a collection of short stories by Zora Neale Hurston. In 1978, Henry Louis Gates Jr. wrote for the Book Review about Robert Hemenway’s “Zora Neale Hurston: A Literary Biography.” Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2020-01-24 10:00:06 UTC ]
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Book Reviews Cecilia Simon Photo by Michael Gaida / Pixabay “Health is whatever works and for how long.” This phrase was announced to our literature and medicine class the first week of the fall 2019 semester. Dr. Ronald Schleifer, the instructor, used... Continue reading at World Literature Today
[ World Literature Today | 2020-01-22 16:01:00 UTC ]
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My Afghan godfather, a bristling military man, who at one time back in the 1930s held the all-India motorcycle speed record, spoke of A Sportsman’s Notebook as one of the two or three books that formed and continued to inform his mind. I remember his copy of it lying on his bedside table,... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-01-07 09:48:06 UTC ]
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This week, Annalisa Quinn reviews John L’Heureux’s story collection “The Heart Is a Full-Wild Beast.” In 1984, L’Heureux wrote for the Book Review about “The Best American Short Stories 1984,” selected by John Updike. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2020-01-03 10:00:04 UTC ]
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IT’S LATE ON the first night of a literary festival in Kampala, Uganda, and I use my phone to order an Uber. Pickup location: Kampala National Theatre. I drop the pin on the street entrance nearest my location’s the pulsing blue dot: Siad Barre Avenue. I’d glimpsed the street name when I... Continue reading at Los Angeles Review of Books
[ Los Angeles Review of Books | 2019-12-27 20:00:19 UTC ]
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If you find the holidays more foreboding than cheerful, find someone to relate to in these 4 free holiday short stories available to read online. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2019-12-16 11:35:47 UTC ]
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Grand Marais, Minn., held its third North Shore Readers & Writers Festival early last month, attracting literary types from across the state. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2019-11-29 05:00:00 UTC ]
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From meditations on the d/Deaf experience to short stories blurring the mythic and the gothic with the everyday, from mixing the personal and political to a young woman uncover the truth about her family’s past – four outstanding writers have today been named on the shortlist for The Sunday... Continue reading at British Council global
[ British Council global | 2019-11-04 12:55:09 UTC ]
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Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine EvaristoSince studying Lara as a student, I have been a fan of Bernardine Evaristo’s work, and am delighted to see her win the Booker Prize this year. Girl, Woman, Other follows the lives of twelve black characters with different backgrounds and experiences, most... Continue reading at British Council global
[ British Council global | 2019-10-30 09:49:28 UTC ]
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The genre is experiencing a renaissance with quality novels and short stories from new and established authors. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2019-10-29 18:17:37 UTC ]
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Duolingo's library of interactive short stories is finally available for mobile, particularly for iPhones. The language-learning portal's Stories feature, which offers over 100 fully voiced bite-sized stories designed to test your reading and listeni... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2019-10-29 11:00:00 UTC ]
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Audible has partnered with Uber to launch in-app short stories to help stressed passengers find a "literary escape" on their journey. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-10-20 14:31:04 UTC ]
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Her novels, short stories and poetry were dense with lush and spellbinding imagery. As a teacher, one former student said, “She lived and died by the word.” Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2019-10-18 22:39:19 UTC ]
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Get more global with your reading, thanks to the Best Asian Short Stories 2019 collection. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2019-10-18 10:35:55 UTC ]
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An auction of various things from the estate of Anthony Bourdain, the late writer, chef, and TV host, is happening now through October 30, and it includes a number of Bourdain’s early writings. The current bid for the original manuscript of A Chef’s Christmas, his 2002 holiday audiobook, is... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2019-10-10 18:10:41 UTC ]
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In his poems, essays, short stories and novels, he highlighted the differences between East and West Germany, even after the Berlin Wall fell. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2019-10-07 22:40:33 UTC ]
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Whether you're looking to break a reading slump or prefer short form writing, we've got the deets on where you can find free short stories online. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2019-10-07 10:37:57 UTC ]
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Here are 10 Edgar Allan Poe quotes for writers and about writing from the author of several short stories and poems, including "The Tell-Tale Heart," "The Fall of the House of Usher," and "The Raven." In these quotes, Poe covers poetry, dreams, madness, and more. The post 10 Edgar Allan Poe... Continue reading at Writer's Digest
[ Writer's Digest | 2019-10-07 05:00:10 UTC ]
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In the 1950s and ’60s, Mr. Conner’s art helped sell airlines and overalls and accompanied short stories in The Saturday Evening Post and elsewhere. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2019-10-03 21:16:21 UTC ]
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Bloomsbury has acquired Irish writer Louise Kennedy’s debut collection of short stories and her first novel in a "fiercely contested" nine-way bidding war, ahead of this month’s Frankfurt Book Fair. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-10-02 22:07:05 UTC ]
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