Category: Literature
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Do you really know what it’s about?: “Poor Things” and the quirky genius of Alasdair Gray
“Poor Things” is an incredible conception, a glimpse into the creative and playful genius of Alasdair Gray. The novel, published in 1992, got the world’s attention when Yorgos Lanthimos’ 2023 film adaptation was nominated for Best Film at the 2024 Oscars and Emma Stone won Best Actress starring as Bella Baxter that year. I’m not…
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The importance of stories: brief reflections on Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe
Two nights ago, amid the heavy wind and rain, I arrived at Queen Elizabeth Hall at Southbank Centre to attend the Orwell Memorial Lecture 2024, given by Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe. Each year, the speaker chosen is allowed total freedom to choose his or her lecture topic, the only requirement being that it should be a topic…
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David Mitchell’s Cloud Atlas: visionary masterpiece or experimental flop?
I recently finished British novelist David Mitchell’s Cloud Atlas, the novel that brought him to the world’s attention probably because of the rather controversial 2012 film adaptation starring the likes of Hallé Berry, Tom Hanks and Hugh Grant (which I have yet to see!) I started reading the book intending to go to an event…
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Coding and translations of Tolstoy
The other day I was having a drink with some friends and one of them happened to be someone I haven’t seen since my undergraduate days. I was happy to find out that he is now studying Digital Humanities at UCL. After explaining (vaguely) what his degree means, he told me he has just completed…
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A Musician’s Search for Meaning
Without that anchor, I would be lost in sea, unsure of what all that practice had led up to, all that time spent trying to read dots on a page and then reproduce them on ivory keys. And then I would probably drown in a sea of self-doubt. I may sound dramatic but when anxiety…
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Ralph Fiennes’ performance of T. S. Eliot’s “Four Quartets”
Ralph Fiennes is most known for his performance of Voldemort in the Harry Potter series, so watching him perform the dark and existential Four Quartets was quite a jarring experience…or perhaps it was fitting…
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Unprocessed thoughts: Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice”
Unprocessed thoughts on Jane Austen’s classic novel “Pride and Prejudice”
Literally Left-handed 