tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-86735100245154113252024-03-19T18:29:11.128+05:30CLRI ReviewsCLRI Reviews Where Self-Published Writers GlitterAdminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08090950818056974185noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8673510024515411325.post-6537360470808298862013-10-14T12:16:00.001+05:302013-10-23T15:17:01.616+05:30CLRI Reviews pays tribute to Oscar Hijuelos<i>CLRI Reviews </i>pays tribute to Oscar Hijuelos, a Cuban-American novelist who died of heart attack yesterday in New York while playing tennis. Oscar won a Pulitzer Prize for his work "The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love (1989).<br />
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Oscar Jerome Hijuelos (1951-2013)</div>
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Photo Source: Wikipedia</div>
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Adminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08090950818056974185noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8673510024515411325.post-15406896632512707612013-10-12T17:50:00.002+05:302013-10-18T23:33:31.902+05:30M Chawla Reviews Bengaluru / Bangalore: In First Person Singular <span style="font-size: large; text-indent: 0in;">Meenakshi Chawla Reviews </span><i style="font-size: x-large; text-indent: 0in;">Bengaluru/ Bangalore:
In First Person Singular</i><br />
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To begin with, a city is a difficult organism to perceive;
then to break it up into discrete segments of culture, history, people and
other headings for its sights and smells, its moods and seasons and the
luminosity of its sunsets, is a task for the gods. Or perhaps, a photographer
with a pain in his heart for his city.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="BodyText" style="text-align: justify;">
Mahesh Bhat is the photographer with a pain in his heart
for his city Bengaluru, or shall we just call it, Bangalore, as we know it better. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Bengaluru/ Bangalore: In First Person Singular</i>
(photo book) is, from the cover to the last page, a labor of deep love and
concern. The very first photograph on the flyleaf inside the cover is that of
Basavana Gudi taken in 1995. That picture sums up the book I’m yet to read.
The dappled sunlight, the waiting stance of the structure amidst lengthening
afternoon shadows and people arrested in mid-stride tell of a Bangalore that is caught
in the cross-currents of identities, a city with roots, finding its wings.<span style="font-size: 8.0pt;"></span></div>
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<td colspan="2" style="padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 387.0pt;" valign="top" width="516"><div class="MsoBodyText" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 6.0pt;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfW8HRaQ-7GoPMqChCP1odHl8KQ_0PmbWlm2rv2UzJeS472fvpv44x2JKE7yihR7E5vMl-zabZHSCbnMLw7E9pDu77CsyN5yZyjU3w-t8tFllqWKE2baRP8yv5FZ_uNDCWOi14sQtBEuI5/s1600/Bengaluru+In+First+Person+Singular.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="155" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfW8HRaQ-7GoPMqChCP1odHl8KQ_0PmbWlm2rv2UzJeS472fvpv44x2JKE7yihR7E5vMl-zabZHSCbnMLw7E9pDu77CsyN5yZyjU3w-t8tFllqWKE2baRP8yv5FZ_uNDCWOi14sQtBEuI5/s1600/Bengaluru+In+First+Person+Singular.jpeg" width="200" /></a> <span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt;">Title: Bangalore/Bengaluru: In first person singular </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt;">Author: Mahesh
Bhat</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt;">Publisher:
Mahesh Bhat Publishing</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt;">Year: 2012</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt;">ISBN: 978-81-904535-1-6</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt;">Price: Rs 1200 / USD 30</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt;">To buy the book, visit <a href="http://www.flipkart.com/bengaluru-bangalore-first-person-singular/p/itmd55z5kzfhhzk6" target="_blank">flipkart</a></span></div>
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This photo book delights the visual sense; at the same
time, the mind processes the subtle message of the image. And that is how the
author conveys the pain in his heart to his readers – not through cart-loads
of words on reams of acid-free paper, but through pictures (on art paper)
that reflect a city in all its living, and lively, detail.</div>
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<br /></div>
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The author begins with a brief acknowledgement of the
catalysts and supporters for this endeavor to narrate the story of Bangalore’s 25-year
journey of change. Contemporary thought leaders come first – Nandan Nilekani,
Subroto Bagchi. Nudging them (gently) are the artistes who, by the author’s
admission, ‘have been amazing’.</div>
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<br /></div>
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The book begins with a full-page photograph of a sunlit
field at the edge of a wood with a girl running across while her brother
stands by, playing his violin – a wide-open sky looks in interestedly. The
caption informs the reader that this field has now been imprisoned by a cigarette
factory at Chikkajala.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The next
picture, three pages later, belongs to another world - urban squalor of
asbestos-capped shanties amidst piles of garbage dwarfed by futuristically
designed commercial complexes in the background.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We have seen this picture – in cities that
grow breathlessly, and mindlessly.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="BodyText" style="text-align: justify;">
The author asks “Whose city is it?”</div>
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<br /></div>
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Indeed, who has the right to stake first claim on Bangalore? Its cultural
denizens re-imagining concepts of life and living; IT professionals, taxi
drivers and businessmen from all parts of the country coming in search of a
new life; students; or its oldest residents holding fast to memories of the
first urban neighborhoods – whose is Bangalore?</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="BodyText" style="text-align: justify;">
A city is planned on sterile drawing boards to systematic
plans and proofs by conscientious engineers, farsighted patrons. Give the
city ample time, minimal space… and you will see it grow under the sun and
sky - amidst the confusion of livelihoods and living spaces, braving the
profusion of vehicles and vagaries of weather, through government inaction,
or worse, pot-bellied solutions to civic issues... the city will grow with a
life all its own, into a future that belies all predictions.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="BodyText" style="text-align: justify;">
The harsh midday sun and the struggles it contains give the
city-face its character. The author documents Bangalore’s character evocatively. There
are so many pictures, and of such diversity – marketplaces, bus stands, and
women vegetable sellers glittering in diamond earstuds.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then there are dargahs, people celebrating
Durga Puja, as well as shops being set up for the day’s trade and the new
night life in the newly emerged part of the city.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="BodyText" style="text-align: justify;">
Pages 56 and 57 present a contrast that truly mirrors
present-day Bangalore – the left page shows a line of four somber black
burqas adorning a shop window, deep undertones of demure womanhood. The right
page has a picture of a highlighted bright-red banner shouting, “Happiness
Sale Last 4 days left” and a line of four painted-up smiling ragdoll-faces
atop the banner. They both thrive – to each, Bangalore is home.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="BodyText" style="text-align: justify;">
Pictures pack in power – elegantly. The portrait of the
descendants of Sir Mirza Ismail, five graceful matriarchs of varying vintage,
is a keepsake; old world charm that we lost in our relentless march into bold
new futures.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="BodyText" style="text-align: justify;">
The chapter that leaves behind a lingering fragrance is
‘Bengaluru Karaga’. A ‘dramatic’ festival that began in the 1800s but still
has relevance for ‘struggles over urban space’, it encapsulates the essence
of the teeming city. It unifies across ‘geographical, religious, linguistic
and cultural’ divisions and is perhaps the only time when Hindu deities are
allowed to enter the precincts of a dargah, Tawakkal Mastan Dargah.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="BodyText" style="text-align: justify;">
A city is the sum total of its citizens’ experiences. It is
what a rickshaw-puller feels when he sets down his first client at seven in
the morning; it is what the student sees as she takes the bus back home; it
is the child watching the birds in the school playground. The city shows a
different side to each of its citizens, like a million-sided prism. Each side
of the prism is true, and each side must keep pace with the other faces in
change and growth.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="BodyText" style="text-align: justify;">
In frame after frame in this well-produced, sturdily-bound,
and smartly edited book, the reader sees the million-sided prism that is Bangalore, or Bengaluru…a
living, thriving organism suffused with energy and flaws, and radiant hope.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="text-align: justify;">
Author’s Bio: Mahesh Bhat is a Bangalore-based
photographer and has worked on projects for a number of publications in over
20 countries, all the way from <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">New York
Times</i> to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Newsweek</i> of Japan.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="BodyText" style="text-align: justify;">
Reviewer’s Bio: Meenakshi Chawla is a Delhi-based writer
and writes book reviews for Contemporary Literary Review India.<br />
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Literary Review India</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: 8.0pt;">— journal that brings articulate writings for
articulate readers.</span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">CLRI prides itself to have a good number of
review writers. We have different review writers for books of different
genres. Our reviews are gaining recognition among the publishers, journals
and academia for fair and high quality reviews. </span>To know more about
book reviews, please visit: <a href="http://www.contemporaryliteraryreviewindia.com/p/paid-services.html">Book
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Adminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08090950818056974185noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8673510024515411325.post-14442233843825087062012-11-17T10:23:00.000+05:302013-10-12T20:10:35.413+05:30Savant Books Releases Tendai Mwanka's Novel "Keys in the River"<b>Savant Books Announces the Release of Tendai Mwanka's Novel "Keys in the River"</b><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbchHUEaSYyjmTZJHbaJgmtJBjlVn3z-9Hs6wT7MpPh4NWays0OAftQP2K616tn37-zv0znh4G-Rsi-q0My-6nnHIr04vRDaD-hyZKKEQ5jlYrsIQmel_TrSqnJAskY8ZmIIFVYk3haC-5/s1600/keys-in-the-riverTMwanaka.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbchHUEaSYyjmTZJHbaJgmtJBjlVn3z-9Hs6wT7MpPh4NWays0OAftQP2K616tn37-zv0znh4G-Rsi-q0My-6nnHIr04vRDaD-hyZKKEQ5jlYrsIQmel_TrSqnJAskY8ZmIIFVYk3haC-5/s200/keys-in-the-riverTMwanaka.jpg" height="200" width="133" /></a></div>
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Keys in the River is a cycle of stories about economically-<wbr></wbr>challenged,
politically-<wbr></wbr>torn, and disease-ridden Zimbabwe, told as if the reader were
sitting and listening to neighbors and friends talking about life. Some stories
are tender, even comic; in others, tragedy and outrage lurk. The stories share
a common thread, a noble stance in the struggle to find love, freedom, justice,
completeness, and satisfaction.</div>
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The author, Tendai Rinos Mwanaka, was born in 1973, in
Nyanga, Nyatate, Mapfurira village, in the remote eastern highlands of Zimbabwe. He is
the author of "Voices from Exile," a collection of poetry on Zimbabwe's political situation and exile in South Africa
(Lapwing Publications, 2010). He has written numerous articles and won several
awards. "Logbook Written by a Drifter," and "Voices from
Exile" were both short-listed for the Erbecce Press Poetry Prize in 2011
and 2009, respectively. He was nominated for a Pushcart Award twice, once in
2008, and again in 2010, as well as commended for the Dalro Prize in 2008. He
has published over 200 short stories, essays, memoirs, poems and visual art
productions in over 100 magazines, journals, and anthologies in the following
countries: USA, UK, Canada,
South Africa, Zimbabwe, Cameroon,
Kenya, India, Italy,
France, Spain, Cyprus,
Australia and New Zealand. He
lives and stays in Chitungwiza,
Zimbabwe.</div>
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"In the spirit of self-promotion and with a wink and a
playful smile, I recommend to you 'Keys in the River'," says Mwanaka.
"Put on some good music, place some tasty food within reach, then let
yourself sink into the stories. Let the ideas growl within your consciousness.
Challenge all your perceptions about Africa and Zimbabwe until even your new
perspective becomes a howling, mangy dog. Now you know modern Africa.
I prescribe 'Keys in the River' is the best medication for people suffering
from this exhausting, frustrating and high-strung twenty-first-<wbr></wbr>century
world."</div>
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Source: Originally published on a blog by Savant Books and Publications LLC. <br />
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Adminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08090950818056974185noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8673510024515411325.post-27409359173663109952012-11-17T10:02:00.002+05:302013-10-12T20:11:05.294+05:30Flaneurs of a Certain Madness: On Yahia Lababidi & Alex Stein's "Artist as Mystic" <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Flaneurs of a Certain Madness: On Yahia Lababidi & Alex Stein's "Artist as Mystic" by Daniel Coffeen</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-kGJSMwOF6UVKKzuRLz6TZGitpiLAf9lueOwDLmBYUmk1UXY6ibETJqfDYg56SQViWh7Unqw4VT1juqW7JGixsKDadDZzBASGuMXXdRvPhN1l74mYwRq6wB30FVOLYQ2QiOAht-j3iJij/s1600/ArtistMystic_AlexStein.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-kGJSMwOF6UVKKzuRLz6TZGitpiLAf9lueOwDLmBYUmk1UXY6ibETJqfDYg56SQViWh7Unqw4VT1juqW7JGixsKDadDZzBASGuMXXdRvPhN1l74mYwRq6wB30FVOLYQ2QiOAht-j3iJij/s200/ArtistMystic_AlexStein.jpg" height="200" width="129" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A few weeks ago, I bought my first eBook: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Artist-Mystic-Conversations-Lababidi/dp/0987276042"><b>Artist
as Mystic: Conversations with Yahia Lababidi</b></a> by Alex Stein. I
have to admit I was hesitant — not to read the book but to buy it as an eBook.
In fact, I was so hesitant I tweeted my hesitancy, informing Mr. Lababidi that,
while the publication of his eBook was exciting, I would wait for the print
version. But our anxieties are revelations. And my protest of the eBook — an
aesthetic protest, mind you, not a principled one — revealed my ambivalence,
testifying to my curiosity. I protested too much.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And while I am not necessarily converted to the eBook, I
could not be happier with my purchase. Waiting for a train, eating lunch,
sitting on a bench while my son plays, I draw my phone — a funny name for it,
at this point — from its denim sheath, suggestively slide my thumb, and
there is Yahia Lababidi and Alex Stein talking about Nietzsche, Kierkegaard,
Baudelaire, Kafka, Bataille, some dude named Ekelund‚ and this doesn't even
include all the casual asides on Rilke, Poe, Rodin, among others.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This experience, for me, holds all the promise of the
digital: sitting at a bus stop, I am ensconced in a silent yet audible conversation,
dwelling amidst a teem of words, ideas, moods, possibilities.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Reading <b>Artist as Mystic</b>, this is what pops at first:
Lababidi's voracious appetite. He moves through ideas, through words, through
ideas with an ease but also with a profound engagement that is nothing less
than exhilarating. And it is so gloriously free of the pedantic, arid academic
nonsense that normally defines books on such so-called big names (is Ekelund a
big name? I'd never heard of him but am thankful for the intro. I was also
inspired to buy, and read, Baudelaire's <b>Fleurs du Mal.</b> And is there any
greater recommendation for a book than it inspired me to seek more?).</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Yes, I came through the academy. But one of my main issues
with academia was not just how it asked me to write but how it asked me to
approach texts (see? I still use the word "text" — which is not
necessarily a bad word but it reveals, in no uncertain terms, my academic
training). To me, a text — I can't help it! — is a living, breathing,
rambunctious thing. I never wanted to treat it as a corpse, something to be
exhaustively dissected. It was something I wanted to converse with (liberated
from academia, I'm allowed to end my sentence with a preposition).</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And, as the title declares, this is exactly what Stein and
Lababidi give us: conversations. The focus is not monolithic, as if this was
the ultimate tome on writing. No, this book <i>moves </i>as a conversation
should — from text to text, idea to idea, moment to moment. It's not always
continuous. There are no tidy summaries. This is a book of caesuras and
ellipses, flows and meandering. It's not a coincidence that Baudelaire's
flaneur shows up. For that is what we witness here: Lababidi and Stein as
flaneurs of writing.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Along the way, we get insights — lots of insights —but we
get lots of passion, as well. We witness, we <i>feel,</i> Lababidi engage these
books. My favorite moment might be when he discusses how he read Kierkegaard (a
writer very close to my own heart): "I never could understand Kierkegaard
with my eyes open. He was too many, too much, too elusive.... I had understood
Kierkegaard all along with my eyes closed, but now I knew the earth of him,
around which the many moons revolved."</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
What I love here is<i> how </i>he engages Kierkegaard, not
whether I agree with his reading. <b>Artist as Mystic</b>, if nothing else, is
a great model for how readers should approach these hallowed authors: converse
with them. Listen but also talk back. It's not a matter of revealing their
secrets. It's not a matter of exhausting their oeuvre. It's a matter of
understanding, sure, but it's above all a matter of taking, connecting,
playing, feeling — in a word, <i>engaging.</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This, alas, is what's truly great about this small but
potent book: it's all about <i>engagement </i>— with words, with ideas, with life.
Lababidi tells us how all these different writers wrestled life as we, in turn,
witness Lababidi's own engagement. This is not the work of a scholar in the
traditional sense. This is the work of, well, a poet: someone who lives to make
new sense of life.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
What we're left with is something unique. Stein and Lababidi
traverse the lives of these writers but this is, by no means, a biography. They
perform exegeses but this book never seeks, never proffers, a certain position
with footnotes and citations. No, they are up to something else entirely. They
are interested in the will to write. And not just the will to write but the
will to write things that are alienating. Look at the names we read: these are
not those who write to please, placate, or or even explicate. Stein and
Lababidi are interested in those writers who are different, who are a little
nasty, who often led odd lives that ended ugly. As they take up this or that
writer — Baudelaire, Bataille, Nietzsche — they seek the will that would write
such things, that would suffer and delight and ache because they <i>had</i> to.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As Stein and Lababidi make their way through this then that
writer, they don't seek to exhaust the canon as if they were experts laying
down the final word. No, they move between the authors' lives, words, and the
words of others in search of the will that drives such mania, such madness,
such brutality, such beauty, such alienation. They seek to grasp, to wrestle,
this mad will.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Now, our authors are much gentler than, say, Bataille. But,
while gentle, they are not reductive or reassuring. In an almost
disconcertingly smooth voice, they give us the fecundity of a certain breed of
madness. Combined with its speed, this makes the book a welcome delirium.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Artist as Mystic,</b> while surely not as alienating as
its subjects, is an expression of will, not an exposition of knowledge. Sure,
these guys know their stuff. But that's not why you should read this book. You
should read this book because it's refreshing, beautiful, and inspiring to read
a book that so joyfully engages the will to life in all its messiness: that
strolls so freely among a certain madness.<br />
<br />
Source: Originally published on a blog by Daniel Coffeen. </div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Get
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<b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Contemporary
Literary Review India</span></b></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 8.0pt;">— journal that brings articulate writings for
articulate readers.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">CLRI prides itself to have a good number of
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book reviews, please visit: <a href="http://www.contemporaryliteraryreviewindia.com/p/paid-services.html">Book
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Adminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08090950818056974185noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8673510024515411325.post-9980508892590914632012-10-13T22:29:00.000+05:302013-10-12T20:11:29.943+05:30Review on Vinay Capila’s The Revolution And Other Stories<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div class="MsoNormal">
"Vinay Capila is a compelling story teller. Vinay lets
his stories evolve on their own and never makes the readers feel he is bending
the storyline. That is the power of him." </div>
</blockquote>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: right;">
– Khurshid Alam, Editor-in-Chief,</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: right;">
Contemporary Literary Review India</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Meenakshi Chawla Reviews Vinay Capila’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Revolution And Other Stories</i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Vinay Capila’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The
Revolution And Other Stories</i> is for the winter afternoons when the sun is
old and mellow, and when the heart is seeking a warm refuge that envelopes,
gently. The stories display a ripeness of perspective that comes from accepting
the world—with all its flaws and flippancies. The readers can only conjecture
that they are – from the author’s life – a full and rich life.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbCA33dDXM6rkQ8VLeQwqzvzJxS5DKXPYkqR91mnWn2okeKDJNNxtVmi0lYRIT1m1LV9w-B5ylTheHYklWCyMBZRJYbF0_sWAXi_P2AJ5yA2l0DOCK3SYXvgSBo9RUumuiUDskuDCj_AmY/s1600/Rev_VCapila.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbCA33dDXM6rkQ8VLeQwqzvzJxS5DKXPYkqR91mnWn2okeKDJNNxtVmi0lYRIT1m1LV9w-B5ylTheHYklWCyMBZRJYbF0_sWAXi_P2AJ5yA2l0DOCK3SYXvgSBo9RUumuiUDskuDCj_AmY/s200/Rev_VCapila.JPG" height="150" width="200" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The first story from which the anthology takes its title
‘The Revolution’ is a titillating read that takes the readers through
college-style ‘revolution’, that first flush of idealism and righteousness. The
lengthiest story in the collection, it stands its ground until the end – which,
incidentally, does not come as a surprise! The author builds up the
atmospherics in this one rather well woven story – the university comes alive
in one’s mind.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
‘One Summer’ is a heart-warming story. It handles two
momentous events, first love and a loved one’s death, with the simplicity of
life itself. Nevertheless, there is innocence in the interactions between
Sunita and Vinod that touches the readers’ heart. Adolescents that they are
have not yet learnt the wiles of the world of adults. Where the story falters
is in dealing with the memory of that first love. First love is almost always
tender, and its memory almost always clutches at the heart in the most
unexpected ways, at the most unexpected times. But on second thoughts, the
author probably wishes to leave this understated.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
‘Behind the Scenes’ is where the author is within his
comfort zone; a production has drawn to its close, the cast has silently
drifted away and the emptiness of endings enfolds the protagonist. Words and
sentiment are doled out with sharp sure jabs, as they would be in a stage
production. The author has captured the somber mood without arc lights and
cues.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
‘Fish and Chips’ lays out the quirky paths wealth takes to
reach the people who have little or no need for it. Beneath the word-layers,
there also surges a question: what is real – that which the eye sees, or that
which the eye misses? So, indeed, which of the two Dr. Slopers is the real
deal? Which of them is the real inheritor of the millions of dollar left behind
by one of his relatives? The story flows naturally with the writer’s ink with
an innate honesty – no clever twists or showy turns.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The usage of Indianism (for example, ‘A year back’) makes
the language writer’s own, however sometimes it narrowly escapes slipping down
to less refined language. Also, some stories lack clear destination, such as
‘Shepherd on the Mountain’ where the narrative is lost in multiple threads –
the shepherd’s side, diary entries and a third perspective too.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The story unfolds largely in the protagonist’s mind and the
reader is led through a complex question-answer-wonderment plot. The essence of
a poetically-underpinned story is squandered in too much reflection and too
many questions.</div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
‘The Battle Within’ might leave a reader puzzled in its wake
– does it or does it not deal with schizophrenia? The change in voice leads to
a disjuncture in understanding. The narrative tends to lumber in a
free-wheeling fashion.</div>
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Remarkably the writer, Vinay, escalates his sharp story
telling skill with ‘The Idealist’ – a nicely sketched story. Vinay sketches his
characters rather expertly: a line here, a flying curve there. It is left to
the readers to fill the details into a love story nuanced with life and living.</div>
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Here is a collection of stories a dreamer, or a ‘straggler’
in the material world, might pen in his diary – a gracious framing of
experiences, ideas and all those mundane days that made the man! The pieces
resemble lyrical sunsets – bringing to viewers, and readers, a vague feeling of
longing, a soft whispering sadness. The author, Vinay Capila, has been
successful in his objective in that the reader’s thoughts linger on a story
even after its last line has been read – just as the author’s mind might have
lingered after his pen had moved on. He makes the stories his own and they flow
on in their own rhythm – ebbing now and rising to a crescendo soon after. In
this, his telling is vaguely reminiscent of Guy de Maupassant’s early work. It
is a volume that every short story reader must add to his/her collection.<br />
<br />
<b>Reviewer</b>: Meenakshi Chawla is a book review writer with Contemporary Literary Review India, and her writings have appeared with many other journals. </div>
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Book Title: The Revolution and Other Stories<br />
Author: Vinay Capila<br />
Category: Story Anthology<br />
Publisher: Angus and Graphers Publishers Pvt. Ltd.<br />
ISBN: 978-93-80254-05-0<br />
Year Published: 2012<br />
Pages: 293<b><span style="color: blue;">.</span></b><br />
<br />
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<b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Get
Your Book Reviewed by</span></b></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">CLRI prides itself to have a good number of
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Adminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08090950818056974185noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8673510024515411325.post-73485440777308123022012-03-27T16:20:00.002+05:302012-03-27T16:22:29.713+05:30Contemporary Literary Review India Nimba Issue 1 print edition<div style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><span style="font-size: large;">Contemporary Literary Review India</span><span style="font-size: small;"> is available in various media to suit the readers from all walks of life. However a writer is happiest if his/her material appears in the print format. The print edition of CLRI has been brought out with this aim. Moreover as this edition involves huge expenses, selection criteria to the print edition differ from other media. </span></span></div><div style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">To understand better which types of materials are selected for the print edition, buy the print copy of Contemporary Literary Review India. </span><span style="font-size: small;">Contemporary Literary Review India print edition has ISSN </span><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: small; line-height: 115%;">2250-3366.</span></div><div style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">Have a look at the preview of <a href="http://www.contemporaryliteraryreviewindia.com/2012/01/clri-nimba-issue-1-january-2012.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Contemporary Literary Review India</a></span><span style="font-size: small;">.</span></div>Adminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08090950818056974185noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8673510024515411325.post-28994159969222255832012-03-27T16:15:00.002+05:302012-03-27T16:18:00.962+05:30CLRI Nimba Issue 1 January 2012 Released as POD<div style="color: black; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i><span style="font-size: 14pt;">CLRI is Released on Pothi</span></i></div><div style="color: black; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Contemporary Literary Review India (CLRI) aims to promote writers and their writings. In its efforts Contemporary Literary Review India Nimba Issue is released through Pothi—a Pint-on-Demand system—also.</span></div><div style="color: black; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="color: black; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">To buy, visit: </span><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://pothi.com/pothi/book/khurshid-alam-contemporary-literary-review-india-0" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Contemporary Literary Review India with Pothi</a></span></div>Adminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08090950818056974185noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8673510024515411325.post-72287818478108831712011-10-17T14:37:00.007+05:302012-03-27T16:07:20.863+05:30Contemporary Literary Review India Digital Editions<div class="MsoNormal"><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Contemporary Literary Review India Nimba Issue, January 2012 is now available in various digital editions.</span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Contemporary Literary Review India is a literary journal in English. Its first print issue is titled Nimba Issue 1 published in January 2012 which brings works of a galaxy of twenty writers from around the world. It includes poems by Susan Adams, Vinita Agrawal, April Avon, Valentina Cano, Jéanpaul Ferro, Zachary Kluckman, Tahera Manan, Sonnet Mondal, Abhishek Tiwari, and Lucas Wilson; stories by Dr. Rashid Askari, Bobby Fox, Jim Wungramyao Kasom, and Ralph Robert Moore; arts by Eleanor Leonne Bennett essays by Carolyn Agee, Mariam Karim, Rigan Mazumdar, and Matthew George Mueller; reviews by Khurshid Alam, and Nishi Sharma.</span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Amazon</b>: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Contemporary-Literary-Review-India-ebook/dp/B0074NQASC/ref=sr_1_2?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1328814271&sr=1-2" target="_blank">Contemporary Literary Review India Nimba Issue</a>, January 2012.</span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Smashwords</b>: <a href="http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/128545" target="_blank">Contemporary Literary Review India Nimba Issue</a>, January 2012.</span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>eBay</b>: <a href="http://www.ebay.in/itm/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=251010866468&ssPageName=ADME:L:LCA:IN:1123" target="_blank">Contemporary Literary Review India Nimba Issue</a>, January 2012.</span></div></div>Adminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08090950818056974185noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8673510024515411325.post-48786401224329319632011-09-08T22:26:00.001+05:302012-03-26T18:14:23.532+05:30Contemporary Literary Review India July 2011 Issue<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Dear Readers!</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">We are glad to share the news that <span style="color: #000066;">C</span>ontemporary <span style="color: #000066;">L</span>iterary <span style="color: #000066;">R</span>eview <span style="color: #000066;">I</span>ndia July 2011 Issue is live now. CLRI July 2011 Issue brings the finest pieces from the writers such as:</span></div><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span><br />
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">April Avon</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Christian Ward</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Ron Koppelberger</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Sonnet Mondal</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Tahera Manan</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Valentina Cano</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Vinita Agrawal</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Zachary Kluckman</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">Please visit, buy, read, and enjoy at:</span><br />
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<br />
We are happy to share the news that <b><span style="color: #000066;">C</span></b>ontemporary <b><span style="color: #000066;">L</span></b>iterary <b><span style="color: #000066;">R</span></b>eview: <b><span style="color: #000066;">I</span></b>ndia Issue 2010 is live now. Please visit, buy, read, and enjoy at:<br />
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</script> <noscript>&amp;lt;A HREF="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?rt=ss_mfw&amp;amp;amp;ServiceVersion=20070822&amp;amp;amp;MarketPlace=US&amp;amp;amp;ID=V20070822%2FUS%2Fcontliterevii-20%2F8001%2F60eec7c6-f149-4709-b15d-107a6e7c19e0&amp;amp;amp;Operation=NoScript"&amp;gt;Amazon.com Widgets&amp;lt;/A&amp;gt;</noscript>Adminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08090950818056974185noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8673510024515411325.post-45411040388883104592010-06-19T21:00:00.001+05:302011-06-26T20:10:48.372+05:30Feathers & Other PoemsBook #1: <span style="font-style: italic;">Feathers and Other Poems</span> by Khurshid Alam, $1.25 only<br />
<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Review</span>:<br />
<span style="font-style: italic;">Feathers and Other Poems</span> is a collection of twenty two (22) poems published in India and abroad between 2004 to 2010 written by the emerging poet and writer Khurshid Alam. These poems belong to the contemporary Indian Writing in the English canon. The anthology also includes the poems of the Investigative Poetry genre on which Khurshid Alam is working seriously. In this genre, Khurshid belongs to the writers as such Charles Olson and Edward Sanders.<br />
<br />
The anthology is available in soft copy form and at a very cheap price of $1.25 only. If purchased in bulk, a special discount is also available.<br />
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To but the e-book, please send an email to:<br />
<span style="color: #3333ff; font-style: italic;">writersdeskinfo(at)yahoo(.)co(.)in</span>Adminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08090950818056974185noreply@blogger.com