Anecdotal Evidence

Are you  someone who has somehow manage to develop a rather stately impression of your own writing ability and also feel you possess a critic's discernment? Do you have a capacity for delusions of grandeur - is that even a question, of course you do. So much so that you can exaggerate - not just your writing and critical abilitIes - but even your own impressions of them, to be able to relate to the turmoil of some who is, and expresses himself, way better? Read on then as Silvio Baldeschi - the narrator of Moravia's Conjugal Love -  writes a critique of a novel he just finished writing.

Last evening I started re-reading something I last read when I was in college. I still found it just as affecting. But let me exercise some restraint which I wish to believe -  or atleast make a show of, as if - age has made it easier for me to achieve, by getting out of the way quickly and  resting content with quoting:          ..(But) the fact remains that I have a strong, determined face that does not at all represent my true character, though it partly explains some contradictions in it. Perhaps my most noteworthy characteristic is lack of depth. Whatever I do or say, the whole of me is contained in what I do or say, and I have nothing in reserve upon which to fall back in the event of my having to retreat. I am in fact, a man all vanguard without any main body or rearguard. From this characteristic comes my proneness to enthusiasm: I get excited over any trifle. This enthusiasm of mine, however, is rather like an uncontrolled horse takin...

6961 தொடர்கதையில் இரண்டாவது பகுதிக்கு முன் எழுதியது: முன்கதை சுருக்கம்: முன்கதை சுருக்கம் என்பது கொடுமை. உயிரை விட்டு எழுதிய வாக்கியங்களை ஒருவரியில் சுருக்கி 'விமலா பார்க்கில் ராஜேஷை (ராஜேஷா ராகேஷா?) சந்தித்து அவர்கள் திருமணத்தைப் பற்றி பேசிவிட்டு மனம் மாறுகிறாள்' என்று எழுதினால் சென்ற அத்தியாத்துக்கு, அதன் விஸ்தாரத்துக்கு அர்த்தமில்லாமல் போய் விடுகிறது. ஆகவே, என் அவசரம் மிகுந்த வாசகியே, முன்கதை சுருக்கம் கிடையாது சுஜாதா - கணையாழி, செப் 1969

தி.வ.மெய்கண்டார் ஆசிரியராக இருக்கும் கவிதாமண்டலம்  சனவரி 2013 இதழிலிருந்து ஒரு கவிதை ரெண்டு திராபை stanza’க்கள் தாங்கினால் ஒரு கவிக்கணம் லாபம். உவமைக் கவிஞர் சுரதாவின் ஒப்பிலா நூல் வேட்கை - கவிவேந்தர் கா.வேழவேந்தன் ’உவமைகளே இல்லாத கவிதை யெல்லாம்  உப்பில்லாப் பண்டம்தான்’ என்றே கூறி சுவைக்கவிதை வடிவித்தவர்தான் சுரதா! அன்னார்  சொற்பொழிவோ தகவல்களின் சுரங்கப் பேழை! எவைஎவற்றை எந்நாளில் எவர்ப டைத்தார்  எனும்விவரம் சொல்வதிலே கணினி ஆவார் இவர்இந்தப் பேராற்றல் பெற்றார் என்றால்  ஏடுகளைத் தேடிநிதம் படித்த தால்தான்

The only artists I have ever known who are personally delightful are bad artists..... He lives the poetry that he cannot write. The others write the poetry that they dare not realize - Oscar Wilde , The Picture of Dorian Gray In Satyajit Ray's Kapurush (Coward) - the protagonist Amitabha  is a screenwriter is traveling to collect material for his film he is going to write. Novelists writing about novelists is the oldest cliche in the book. Screenwriters writing about screenwriters is relatively rare and on occasion has resulted in phenomenal  awesomeness . However, it is interesting to see how Ray shows a screenwriter.

Have blog, will archive. What follows is from a clutch of posts written at various points in time about ThillAnA MohanAmbAL - in my opinion, one of the most thoroughly enjoyable films with a distinctly homegrown aesthetic. Due to the nature of the post, you can expect all kinds of unevenness and abruptness, which the content shall hopefully compel you to bear with.  Plunge..

“If I had that much money, I’d retire. Do you think I would come here and bother teaching all of you?” I am not sure we understood that. Teachers weren’t supposed to say such things – atleast not good ones, at any rate not to twelve year olds. But she did, in a balmy post-lunch English class to all of us in that eighth standard. She was one of the best teachers who could stir your curiosity without pandering, who could exude erudition while still being approachable.She was probably in her forties and had a generally unhurried manner, which, were it a story, one would be encouraged to infer a worldview.  While she introduced us to stories, poems, plays and generally yanked our language into shape – she was at her very best when she indulged in rarest of rare raconteur sessions.