Wanna be a writer?

Agatha Christie

Do you wanna be a writer? Are you sometimes beseiged by the desire to put pen to paper and create some new reality that true to you, truer than 'real' life? Isaac Azimov said that if his doctor told him he had only six minutes to live, he wouldn't brood. Instead, he would "type a little faster." That's pretty much my point of view. And not because it's 'glamorous'; it's not. It's a lonely, insular enterprise that often leaves your loved ones accusing you (quite rightly) of being self-centred and disconnected with the world in general.

A YouGov poll just released finds that becoming a writer is considered as the most desirable job in Britain. 60% of people said they’d like to do it for a living. Fewer people listed being a TV presenter or a movie star! This has thrown up interesting debates on the net about writers and the writer’s life.

Maya Angelou

George Orwell described writing a book as “a horrible, exhausting struggle, like a long bout of some painful illness.” If this isn’t graphic enough, consider Hemingway’s quote: “There’s nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.” And bleed, we do. It can strain one’s personal life, too, since the writer is frequently absorbed with her own imagination and kind of oblivious to her surroundings.  I know that even while sitting and watching TV with my family, for instance, I’m often lost in my character’s fate or a particular plot point in the work in progress.

And then there’s rejection to cope with. Not only rejection by publishers, but by readers. There will always be some people who hate what you write, others who think it’s fair to criticize because you write. Strangely enough, everyone feels there’s a hidden writer inside him! It seems so doable until you actually get down to it. So, why write?

It’s because we have to. Those of us who are writers, don’t really have a choice. There’s this thing inside of us- call it a demon or muse or merely some mysterious urging- that won’t go away until it gets out on paper. As Maya Angelou said: “There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.” (Quote from I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings). 

Despicably Yours: a study in villainy

It's harder to create a 'good' villain than a hero.He’s got to be enigmatic, complicated, riveting and, above all, really horrible. I’ve compiled a list of ten evil characters from the movies and fiction that provide an interesting insight into the power of good writing. I’ve left out some of the more famous ones: the Joker in Batman, Count Dracula, Jack the Ripper, Hannibal Lecter and so on because they’re so done. Here’s my list, not in any particular order:

Aaron Stampler from Primal Fear, 
Professor James Moriarty from the Sherlock Holmes stories,
 Rosa Klebb in From Russia With Love, 
Colonel Hans Landa from Inglorious Basterds, 
Claudius from Hamlet,
 'Big Ger' Cafferty from Ian Rankin's Rebus novels,
 Tom Ripley in The Talented Mr. Ripley, 
Hans Gruber from Die Hard, 
Al Capone in The Untouchables, 
and Keyser Soze from The Usual Suspects.

All these photos are downloaded from Google images.

Aaron Stampler in Primal Fear:

Remember that innocent looking boy with a multiple personality disorder? Hard to believe it was Edward Norton’s debut role. This 1996 adaptation of William Diehl’s novel would not have been so engrossing without Norton playing the young altar boy accused of violently murdering an Archbishop. He even shaded Richard Gere’s character Martin Vail. I’ll never forget the end when Gere realizes he’s been played for a fool. So there never was a Roy? He asks Stampler, referring to Aaron’s vicious alter ego. To this, Stampler replies: “There never was an Aaron, Counsellor!”

Jim Moriarty from the Sherlock Holmes Series:

Although he appears in only two Sherlock Holmes stories, The Final Problem and The Valley of Fear, Holmes’s arch enemy casts a long shadow through the entire series. Holmes himself describes the mathematical genius professor as ‘The Napoleon of Crime’. He’s maniacal, egotistic and his brain is said to rival Holmes’s. Many actors have played him over the years in the host of Sherlock adaptations. I like the way Andrew Scott (featured in the photo above) does Moriarty in the BBC version Sherlock, which is currently running on TV. He’s smartly turned out and utterly frightening.

Rosa Klebb in From Russia With Love:

Lotte Lenya is so effective as the evil Colonel Rosa Klebb in the second Bond movie, we remember her as the main villain. Her poison-tipped shoe spike is an iconic weapon and it’s hard to forget the fear on Sean Connery’s face as he fights her off in the climax. The way she flinches at the slightest human touch underlines her brutality; it seems the only way she can make human contact is by stabbing people with her shoe.

Hans Landa from Inglorious Basterds:

…and with this character the world was introduced to a genius called Christoph Waltz. A German-Austrian actor who speaks English, French and Italian apart from his native tongue, Waltz was eerily charming in this Quentin Tarantino flick. Who else could’ve played a Nazi Colonel and made us want to see more? He’s not only a brilliant detective Jew-hunter, he loves drinking milk, too! We’re almost sorry when the American Lt. Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt) disfigures him by carving a swastika into his forehead at the end of the film.

Claudius in Hamlet:

Played by Derek Jacobi in this version. Kenneth Branagh (also in the picture) is the tortured Prince of Denmark. Claudius is an interesting Shakespeare villain. He’s a capable monarch, possesses competent diplomatic skills and he’s a patient uncle/ stepfather to crazy Hamlet. It’s only after the ghost appears to Hamlet that we realize he’s behind the murder of his brother, Hamlet’s father. His confession to God in his private chapel reveals a heart bordering on repentance but since it’s a tragedy, he falls to Hamlet’s sword in the end.

'Big Ger' Cafferty in Ian Rankin's Rebus novels:

Morris Gerald Cafferty, played by James Cosmo (the photo above) in one of the Rebus series, is the perfect foil to John Rebus, Ian Rankin’s enigmatic Scottish detective. There’s plenty of dramatic tension between the two since Rebus often cuts corners in order to seek a conviction and sometimes finds himself on the wrong side of the law. Cafferty knows this and spares no opportunity to confront Rebus. Cafferty is portrayed as ruthless, physically strong and a man to be feared.

Tom Ripley in The Talented Mr. Ripley:

Matt Damon is brilliant as Tom Ripley, the man who steals a rich guy’s identity, kills him and gets away with it all. An adaptation of the 1955 novel of the same name by Patricia Highsmith, it’s set in the 1950s in Italy and the US. Tom Ripley is the young man with dubious talents- lying, forging, stealing- struggling to make a living. He succeeds in murdering a rich man Dickie Greenleaf (played by Jude Law) and then convincing a host of people that he’s Dickie. His motives? ‘It’s better to be a fake nobody than a real somebody.’ Hmm…food for thought, what?

Hans Gruber in Die Hard:

Suave, menacing and evil, Alan Rickman made Hans Gruber an unforgettable villain in the first Die Hard movie. None of the baddies in the next four sequels came close. Gruber is basically a thief but he seems so much more. He kills without batting an eye but he can also be extremely well-mannered. Loved his German accent, too.

Al Capone in The Untouchables:

With Kevin Costner, Sean Connery and Andy Garcia in the cast of this 1987 crime drama, a scary villain was required to heighten the drama. It was no other than Robert De Niro who stepped into the role of Al Capone, the Chicago mafia man of the 1920s and 30s. Capone is mercurial, loves the opera, kills without mercy and he’s slightly comical, too. Never accept his dinner invite, though, he might just bash your brains in with a baseball bat!

Keyser Soze in The Usual Suspects:

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Awesome movie, awesome Kevin Spacey (extreme right in the photo). He’s Roger ‘Verbal’ Kint, a small time con artist with cerebral palsy who turns approver when a group of ‘the usual suspects’ blow up a freighter ship and kill nearly everyone on board. As he narrates the story to the cops, the name Keyser Soze turns up. Soze is a mythical figure of Turkish descent who’s rumoured to be nearly invisible. He kills not only his enemies but their families and associates, too. Only at the end do we realize, in one of the greatest movie twists of all time, that Kint is Keyser Soze. He has several great lines. One of the most famous, a paraphrase of Baudelaire: ‘The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he doesn’t exist.’

                                                        ***

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The Grand Budapest Hotel: Movie Tribute

Wes Anderson’s The Grand Budapest Hotel is pure joy. It’s a comedy movie released last year and has an awesome star cast. Ralph Fiennes leads the group. Then there’s F. Murray Abraham, Bill Murray, Edward Norton, Tilda Swinton, Jeff Goldblum, Willem Dafoe, Jude Law, Owen Wilson, Adrien Brody…to name a few! The plot is complicated but presented so effortlessly that you don’t have any trouble shifting between present day, the 1960s and 1930s. How many movies or novels can boast of that?

A brief synopsis:

Monsieur Gustave H (Ralph Fiennes) is concierge at The Grand Budapest Hotel, a popular ski resort in the 1930s at the fictional European Alpine Republic of Zubrowka. A junior lobby boy called Zero Mustafa (Tony Revolori as the boy and F. Murray Abraham as the older Zero) becomes his friend and protégé. Gustave prides himself on providing his guests top class service and that includes sexual favours to rich elderly women visiting there. One of his lovers is Madame D (Tilda Swinton) who dies under mysterious circumstances and bequeaths him a priceless painting Boy with Apple. This enrages her family, particularly her son Dmitri (Adrien Brody) and Gustave finds himself framed for her murder and arrested. How he escapes from prison and proves his innocence forms the rest of the action.

Wes Anderson’s masterful treatment of the large array of actors and his amazing screenplay blew my mind. It’s a lesson for all writers, the way he gives bit parts such brilliant characteristics that they remain with us long after the movie ends. The locales are gorgeous and the manner in which Anderson combines wit, humour, farce and suspense is worth all the hype surrounding the movie (11 Oscar nominations!).

To give you a small example of one of the many, many wonderful scenes in the movie: Gustave has just escaped from prison and Zero is waiting outside the walls for him. Instead of scooting from there, Gustave proceeds to harangue the lobby boy for not bringing along his favourite cologne, L’air du panache. Moments later he regrets his words and apologizes to Zero for failing to meet the high standards of The Grand Budapest Hotel!

Don’t miss this movie.

Ten Great Relaxing Songs

Lake Pangong in Ladakh, taken with my Sony Xperia Z phone this summer

Ten great songs to relax with

1) Windmills of Your Mind- Sting's version from The Thomas Crown Affair. It's a haunting rendition of the classic and a really difficult song to do. Love it.

2) Don't Wanna Close My Eyes- Aerosmith, featured on the Armageddon soundtrack. Steven Tyler outdoes himself.

3) Too Much Love Will Kill You- Queen. Who can compare with Freddie's genius?

4) Don't Break My Heart- UB 40. Wish this group had done more. They vanished too soon.

5) Still Got the Blues- Gary Moore. I think this Irish musician was an underrated guitarist. For me, he's up there with Clapton and Joe Satriani and all.

6) Speak Softly Love- Andy Williams from The Godfather. An awesome, gentle theme from one of the best movies of all time.

7) Nothing Compares with You- Sinead O'Connor. Don't you wish this Irish lass had continued longer, too?

8) Still Loving You- Scorpions. A must at every College do in the 90's. Remember the line: 'Pride has built a wall, so strong, I can't get through...'?

9) I Have A Dream- ABBA. Although Agnetha was the lead singer and by far the better one, I love this ABBA number which has Annie Frid in charge. It's so lovely, almost like a hymn.

10) Patience- Guns n' Roses. An unlikely choice? Well, Axl Rose proves his gravelly voice is not just for belting out 'Sweet Child O' Mine' or 'November Rain'; he can be gentle, too.

What's on your list?

The Devil's Dictionary

May I introduce you to The Devil’s Dictionary? It’s a delightful collection of witty definitions compiled by Ambrose Bierce between 1881 and 1906. It was first published in 1906 as The Cynic’s Word Book, since the then publishers baulked at the reference to man’s Chief Adversary.

Here’s a sample of some of Bierce’s whacky descriptions:

A Funeral, he says, is ‘a pageant whereby we assist our respect for the dead by enriching the undertaker, and strengthen our grief by an expenditure that deepens our groans and doubles our tears.’

Abrupt means: ‘Sudden, without ceremony, like the arrival of a cannon-shot and the departure of a soldier whose interests are most affected by it.’

Plunder is ‘to take the property of another without observing the decent and customary reticences of theft’.

How `bout some definitions appropriate for our Indian context? I’ve come up with a few.

Indian men: Alpha males, all of them…in their dreams. That’s why it’s so hard for them to accept rejection: which woman would not want God’s gift…?

Government servants: That peculiar class of officials who believe that public service begins with service to self and, preferably, ends the same way.

Road Rage: the most common method of settling disputes arising from accidents and other mishaps on the road, requiring nothing more than fists and stones. Lessens the burden of the Traffic Police since the aggressors don’t and the victims can’t press charges.

You can get a free copy of The Devil’s Dictionary as an ebook from Gutenberg Press.

Helen of Troy- Femme Fatale or Woman of Substance?

What do we know about Helen of Troy?

-That she is supposed to have been the most beautiful woman that ever lived;
-That she was the Queen of Sparta, married to Menelaus, and she was abducted by/ eloped with Paris, Prince of Troy;
-That this led to the Trojan war as Menelaus called upon other Greek states for assistance and they united under Agamemnon's leadership to attack Troy. Among the Greeks was the mighty warrior Achilles. After a long siege lasting over a decade, the Trojans were defeated by trickery when the Greeks pretended to retreat, leaving behind a large wooden horse. The Trojans mistook this for a gift, happily wheeling it inside their hitherto impregnable walls, unaware that Greek warriors were concealed inside the contraption...

Episodes from the Trojan war have been depicted through poetry, drama and movies, most famously in Homer's epic Iliad (probably composed between 750- 650 B.C) and recently in the Hollywood blockbuster Troy, featuring Diane Kruger as Helen, Orlando Bloom as Paris and Brad Pitt as Achilles.
All very well, but what happened to Helen after the sack of Troy? And what does that tell us about her character?

Before the stratagem of the wooden horse (described in the second book of Virgil's Aeneid), Paris kills Achilles by sending an arrow through his heel and is later killed by Philoctetes. So Helen is left in a precarious position. She is, after all, the 'pearl, whose price hath launched above a thousand ships', as Shakespeare's Troilus says (Troilus and Cressida, Act II, scene ii). She's presumably not high on the Trojans' popularity lists. In order to safeguard her position, she marries Paris's brother Deiphobus. Hector, Paris's noble older brother, is killed by Achilles during the war. No one would blame Helen for taking up with Deiphobus. But what happens when Troy is burning? She betrays Deiphobus in order to curry favour with Menelaus, who forgives her and takes her back! Surprised? I was, when I discovered this recently. And, more surprised still, when I went through the Iliad again (Alexander Pope's translation) and found Helen's reference to a daughter she'd left behind in Troy. One would presume this fact makes her elopement all the more cold-hearted. But Homer is kind to her. She's repeatedly presented as being filled with remorse. On the death of Hector (in the last book of the Iliad) she acknowledges herself as being 'the wretched source of all this misery/ The fate I caused, for ever I bemoan...'
Really? But not enough to stand by the Trojans and Husband Number Three?

Best 5 books read in 2013

I managed to get in a good bit of reading last year and I thought I'd share brief reviews of books/ works that I liked most. So here goes, first the list, not in order of preference, though. They were all so good:

1) Simon Kernick- The Business of Dying

2) Ian Rankin- Knots & Crosses

3) Shakespeare- Coriolanus

4) Robert Goddard- Dying To Tell

5) Pete McCarthy- McCarthy's Bar

Simon Kernick's The Business of Dying: Simon is a British thriller/ crime writer. The Business of Dying is his first novel published way back in 2002 but I read it only last year. It's a wonderfully edgy and humourous novel that introduces a complex hero, Dennis Milne, a cop that moonlights as a hitman. Things turn awry for him when, during a particular hit, his targets turn out to be customs officers and an accountant, not mobsters like he'd been told. Great plot, witty dialogue, a must read.

Here's an excerpt: 'An ominous sensation crept up my back as partially buried thoughts suddenly unearthed themselves like zombies in a graveyard.'

Kernick's other big successes include Relentless, Stay Alive and many others.

Ian Rankin's Knots & Crosses: This one was a re-read. Just realized that this, too, was his first Rebus novel published in 1987. I was so sad about Rankin having retired Rebus that I wanted to revisit the beginning. Once more I was struck by Rankin's amazing characterization. John Rebus is the divorced, hard drinking Scottish copper who's willing to bend rules to get the bad guy. Knots & Crosses is pure joy with a complicated plot, cryptic messages, Rebus's messed up personal life, his drug-dealing brother Michael, and so on. Grab it whenever you can.

Shakespeare's Coriolanus: Another re-read. For the uninitiated, this tragedy is one of the Bard's later works, written between 1605-08 and it's based on a legendary Roman leader Caius Marcius Coriolanus. As always, Shakespeare's mastery in presenting great openings grabs the reader (or audience's) attention from the very first scene. We're thrust into a conflict as the play opens with a riot and the people of Rome are up in arms against the hero, Coriolanus. His arrogance, bravery and enigmatic personality are powerfully brought out right at the start and, of course, this continues all through. The play also has a powerful female character in Volumnia, Caius's mother. Consider her declaration about Caius in battle:

'Had I a dozen sons, I had rather had eleven die nobly for their country than one voluptuously surfeit out of action'. Charming, wasn't she?

Coriolanus has been adapted for television and the movies many times and I especially like the 2011 version directed by the hugely talented (and very handsome) Ralph Fiennes, who also plays the lead role. If that isn't enough to grab eyeballs, there's Gerard Butler playing Coriolanus's arch rival Aufidius. Don't miss it.

Robert Goddard's Dying to Tell: This is an early gem (pub 2001) from the British writer who's known as the master of the clever twist. Goddard's novels feature regular guys who get caught up in tricky, dangerous situations. This one has a mind-blowing ending (I'm struggling hard to not reveal it!). The plot revolves round a guy called Lance Bradley who's whiling away his time in Somerset when he gets a call from his friend Rupert's sister, saying that ol' Rupe has gone missing; can he help? Typically, Bradley is soon caught up in a life and death situation and he's propelled by circumstances to get deeper and deeper into it...You can also check out Goddard's website: robertgoddardbooks.co.uk. He describes his work as having 'unprincipled chicanery; unsolved crimes; unforgotten betrayals...' How can you resist?

Pete McCarthy's McCarthy's Bar: one of the funniest books I have ever read. Pete McCarthy was a British TV travel writer, sadly no more (passed away in 2004 in his early fifties). McCarthy writes about his travels though Ireland. The narrative is so humourous and well-observed that it'll leave you gasping in awe at the guy's talent. Sample this:

'I've never understood how cars work, beyond a long-standing conviction that petrol is crucial'.

He describes meeting two American GIs in Germany who declared they were planning to visit England 'because it would be neat to see where John Lennon and Elvis grew up.' He says they also wanted to know if they could use dollars and would the street signs be in English?

The one common thread in all these works is the sheer joy of storytelling that shines through. These guys were writing because they wanted to. Period. That's what sets them apart.

How about sharing the best five books you read in 2013 with me?

Me at the Panchkula Literature Festival 2013

The Panchkula Lit Fest organized by Rumour Group India on 15th December 2013 was a fun-filled experience. I loved being part of a panel discussion on emerging fiction for young adults. Four more writers were part of the panel and it was moderated by the vivacious Preeti Singh. While the entire session was relevant and we didn't digress much, the most important issue- I think- was the question about the importance of marketing in today's world. Some felt that a good book will always find a home. Sorry, but I don't agree. Content, unfortunately, is only a part of the whole publishing rigmarole nowadays. It's all about publicity, marketing and PR! Sad but true. That's why bookshelves are often littered with terrible works that don't deserve to see the light of day. But that's just the way it is.

A great experience, though, and a lovely way to spend a bright winter's afternoon. Thank you to Radhika Panicker, CEO of Rumour Group for inviting me.

Publicity for the e-book

My brush with Rock Culture- The No Doubt Interview

Never Say Die, Femina Article

Times of India 'Middles' 2

Times of India 'Middles'

Who's your favourite fictional heroine?

I have a long list of female protagonists in fiction that I admire and I'm wondering which names you all will come up with. As a kid I was overawed with the 'boyish' George of the Famous Five! It was great the way she shunned female stereotypes, quite unusual for Enid Blyton. Then Nancy Drew became my role model! I loved the concept of a girl detective who was smart, independent and attractive. Moving on to more serious literature, one comes across scores of well-written female parts and it isn't easy to make a list of favourites. Some of mine are:

Dorothea in George Eliot's Middlemarch

Elizabeth Bennet in Pride and Prejudice (a no- brainer)

Emma in Jane Austen's eponymous novel

Catherine in Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights

Portia in Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice

Beatrice in Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing

Iris Chase of Margaret Atwood's The Blind Assassin (Booker Prize winner, 2000)

Maggie of Tennessee Williams' celebrated play Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (won the Pulitzer Prize in 1955 and, yes, it was filmed with Elizabeth Taylor and Paul Newman)

... and many, many more.

It's tempting to talk about Maggie and Elizabeth Bennet because they're such obvious choices but, of the above, I think Beatrice's portrayal was quite path-breaking for its time and, among the modern day heroines, I am in complete awe of Iris Chase.

Beatrice's chutzpah and professed antipathy towards marriage make her a memorable character. She's not crude like Kate in The Taming of the Shrew but she's witty and yet a romantic at heart. Consider, for example, her response when her uncle Leonato wishes she is "one day fitted with a husband".
"Not till God make men of some other metal than earth," she says. "Would it not grieve a woman to be mastered by a pierce of valiant dust?"
Iris Chase in The Blind Assassin is a complex and incredibly clever woman, who reveals her extramarital affair by presenting it as a work of fiction by her dead sister Laura. The story is moving, smart and unputdownable. She's not just a rich woman caught in an unhappy marriage; she knows how important appearances are for the sake of high society and she also knows how to subvert those to effect a kind of catharsis.

So, who's on your list?

Lessons from The Pink Panther: How hard is it to write comedy?

What's harder to write- tragic scenes or comic ones?

This question always throws up lots of matter for debate. Isn't it true that in literature and in the movies it's tragic / dramatic pieces that usually win awards and receive approbation? Comedy is rarely given the same degree of importance, at least as far as the critics go. Yet, isn't good comedy incredibly difficult to write?

Watching The Return of the Pink Panther (for the nth time!) the other day, I was struck by the sheer brilliance of the actors' performances, comic timing and, of course, dialogue delivery. I know I've picked an easy one for movies of The Pink Panther series, particularly the original ones starring Peter Sellers, are recognized as cinematic masterpieces. The Return of the Pink Panther (released in 1975) is my favourite. It's the one starring Christopher Plummer as Sir Charles Litton, the Phantom, Herbert Lom as Clouseau's long-suffering boss Chief Inspector Dreyfus and Peter Sellers, of course, as the bumbling Inspector Jacques Clouseau.

Sample this:

Chief Inspector Dreyfus (to Clouseau): "You are suspended for six months, without pay..."

Clouseau: "Six months!"

Dreyfus: "Yes, without pay. Have you anything to say?"

Clouseau (after a moment's thought): "Could you lend me...fifty francs?"

This movie also has the famous 'follow that car scene' and the one in which Clouseau asks a passerby in Gstaad: "Do you know the way to Paris hotel?"
"Yes," says the man, and walks on!

The film is so good that scene after scene leaves you in splits. How I wish I could write like that!

In respect to the question I've asked, I think that it's hard to do both tragic and comic scenes well. But comedy poses a greater challenge because it relies on the all-important twist at the end, the punch that requires a reader's (or moviegoer's) expectation to be built up for something and then find exactly the opposite happen. It's the unexpected that keeps good comedy going, whereas in tragedies it's more Aristotelian, isn't it? We know the protagonist is doomed because of his own character flaws or because of circumstances beyond his control.

What do you think?

The Romantic Manifesto: Spontaneous overflow of powerful feeling...?

Those of us who've studied English in school or college would be familiar with the works of the Romantic poets: William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, William Blake, Lord Byron, P.B. Shelley, John Keats and a few others. The lyrical beauty of their poems have so entered our consciousness that we can't imagine literature without them and, yet, it took an act of courage by two men to herald the Romantic era as a revolutionary departure from the Enlightenment period that had celebrated logic and reason and highly stylized forms of poetry. Then suddenly came The Lyrical Ballads in 1798 (published anonymously) with poems like The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, Tintern Abbey, The Female Vagrant and so on. Wordsworth was acutely aware of the furore these works might cause for he says in an introduction to that edition: readers "will perhaps have to struggle with feelings of strangeness and awkwardness". But once the Ballads became popular, a second edition came out with Wordsworth's famous preface in which he put forth the basic principles of Romanticism, basically an emphasis on feelings and emotions and the beauty of nature. All good poetry, he says, is

"the spontaneous overflow of powerful feeling".

It originates, he says, from

"emotion recollected in tranquility."

Hence, we see at the end of The Solitary Reaper:

"The music in my heart I bore,

            Long after it was heard no more."

And The Daffodils concludes thus:

"For oft, when on my couch I lie 

 In vacant or in pensive mood,

           They flash upon that inward eye
           
           Which is the bliss of solitude;

           And then my heart with pleasure fills,

            And dances with the daffodils."

We're so familiar with poems of heightened passion such as Coleridge's Kubla Khan and Keats' Ode on a Grecian Urn, Shelley's Ode to the West Wind that we forget it took a revolutionary Lake poet like Wordsworth to perform that first act of brazenness and produce something new and utterly different from the prevailing poetic diction.
I suppose good writing always requires loads of courage.
Oui ou non?

 

 

 

Hardy's Mayor of Casterbridge: Why we are drawn to flawed characters

Jane Austen is a novelist that's always in the news and her books are often retold on screen but a novelist I'd really like to see adapted for the big screen more often is Thomas Hardy. The Mayor of Casterbridge (1886) is one of Hardy's best novels and many of us must be familiar with the plot. Its main protagonist Michael Henchard is one of the most riveting characters in English Literature. No wonder then that Hardy himself calls him 'a man of character' in the byline to the title (The Life and Death of The Mayor of Casterbridge: A story of a man of character).

The story begins with a drunken Henchard selling his wife Susan and infant daughter Elizabeth-Jane at an auction to a sailor called Newman for five guineas. Once he realizes his mistake, it's too late. They've left town and he loses them. He was 21 years old at the time and vows not to touch liquor for another 21 years. Henchard goes on to become a successful businessman and, eventually, the Mayor of Casterbridge (a fictional town believed to have been modeled on Dorset, England). As the novel progresses, we see Henchard as a man of contradictions: he possesses raw energy and he's capable of hard work but he also has a cruel and self-destructive streak that makes him push people away. His character has a distinctly Aristotelian feel to it: he's the typical tragic hero with classic flaws- hubris (pride) and hamartia (error of judgement). Why, then, do we keep reading?

Personally, it's the very fact that Henchard is flawed that makes him seem real to me. Equally important is the sheer power of Hardy's narrative style. Sample this: it's said of Elizabeth-Jane when she grows up and her fortunes improve:

"Her triumph was tempered by circumspection. She had still that field mouse fear of the coulter of destiny, despite fair promise, which is common among those who have suffered early from poverty and oppression."

Gosh, I wish I could write like that!

When Henchard declares in the end, having lost everything: "My punishment is not more than I can bear" one almost wants to applaud his defiance of fate and the powers that be.

It's always- always- worth it to go back to the classics. 

Power of the special quote

As a writer, I'm constantly striving for the right word, the perfect line for my characters to speak. We all know the power of great dialogue, immortal lines that are simple and yet, unforgettable. The American Film Institute recently compiled a list of 100 great movie quotes in the past 100 years. The number one spot went to Rhett Butler's rebuttal to Scarlet in Gone With the Wind:

"Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn".

No surprises there, I guess, since it is perhaps the most often quoted line in cinematic history.
The second all-time favourite was also a hugely popular line- Marlon Brando in The Godfather:

"I'm going to make him an offer he can't refuse."

The other popular ones were:

Harry Callan in Sudden Impact: "Go ahead, make my day."

Rick to Isla in Casabalanca: "Here's looking at you, kid."

Love Story's: "Love means never having to say you're sorry."

The Sixth Sense's: "I see dead people."

Arnie in Terminator 2: Judgement Day: "Hasta la vista, baby."

One of my favourite quotes is from Gladiator, the Ridley Scott bloodfest of 2000. It's the scene in which Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix) confronts Maximus (the very dishy Russell Crowe). Maximus is wearing a helmet and says in reply to Commodus's query that his name is Gladiator. Then he turns his back to the King. Commodus erupts in anger and orders him to remove his helmet and tell him his name. Maximus turns around slowly, faces the man who'd murdered his family, and says:

"My name is Maximus Decimus Meridius, commander of the armies of the North, General of the Felix legions, loyal servant to the true emperor Marcus Aurelius. Father to a murdered son, husband to a murdered wife. And I will have my vengeance, in this life or the next."

Great stuff, or what?
What's your favourite quote?

Incredible Rumi, 13th century Persian Poet

Jalaluddin Mohammed Balkhi, fondly known as Rumi, is a 13th century poet (September 1207-December 1273) born in Wakhsh (modern-day Tajikistan). A Sufi mystic who wrote in Persian, his most famous work is the Mathnawi, a poem in six volumes. I discovered him only recently when I came upon excerpts of some of his works translated by Coleman Barks. I was struck by the beauty, simplicity of expression and depth in his verses.

Sample this:

'I didn't come here of my own accord, and 
I can't leave that way.
Whoever brought me here will have to take 
me home'.

'Come, come, whoever you are...
Come even though you have broken your vows a
thousand times,
Come and yet come again. Ours is not a caravan of despair'.

(from Soul of Rumi by Coleman Barks)

An interesting tidbit:

After his death his son Sultan Walad and his followers founded the Mevlevi Order, also called the Order of the Whirling Dervishes. They're famous for the Sufi dance in the Sama ceremony.

The epitaph on Rumi's tomb in Koyna (modern-day Turkey) says;

'When we are dead, seek not our tomb in the earth,

but find it in the hearts of men.'

Macbeth's Witches: How foul are they really?

The Witches in Shakespeare's tragedy Macbeth have fascinated people for generations. Those of you who know the play, will recall that the action begins with the three Witches in 'a desert place'. They're talking about Macbeth, who is a Captain in the Scottish King Duncan's army. Directly after, Duncan appears on the battlefield, hears of Macbeth's bravery in suppressing a rebellion, and appoints him Thane of Cawdor. The Witches then meet Macbeth and his fellow Captain Banquo when they're returning from battle and announce that Macbeth's Thane of Cawdor and that he will be King. Banquo's children will be king but he won't. The evil sisters' announcement set the ball rolling for Duncan and Banquo's death and Macbeth's elevation as King. But just how responsible are the Witches for the tragedy that plays out? That's a question every Shakespeare scholar mulls over. So brilliant is the Bard's genius that we're never really sure...

Obviously Macbeth already has evil in his heart. For no sooner does he learn of his appointment as Thane of Cawdor than he begins to mumble: 'why do I yield to that suggestion/Whose horrid image doth unfix my hair/
And make my seated heart knock at my ribs/Against the use of nature?' He goes on and on about such evil thoughts, ignoring Banquo's warning:' 'tis strange:And oftentimes, to win us to our harm/The instruments of darkness tell us truths,/Win us with honest trifles, to betray's/In deepest consequence.' 

I'm focussing on this as a study of an efficient narrative tool: ambiguity. Wouldn't it be great if one could come up with such characters that take the action forward and leave us thinking about cause and effect for a long, long time after the story's over?