Literature │ “Betrayal can only happen if you love.” By Grand Central Station I Sat Down and Wept by Elizabeth Smart (published in “Avrupa” newspaper) If there has ever been a book which has split me in two, and sent me spinning haphazardly in those opposing poles, it is most certainly Smart’s By Grand Central Station I Sat Down and Wept (1945) which I will refer to as BGCS, for no reader will forgive me for filling up this column with the lengthy title. Smart (1913-1986) was a Canadian poet and novelist who had an infamous affair with the writer

Continue Reading

Literature │Too Old Does Not Mean Too Late All Passion Spent by Vita Sackville -West (published in Avrupa newspaper) “Of course she would not question the wisdom of any arrangements they might choose to make. Mother had no will of her own; all her life long, gracious and gentle, she had been wholly submissive- an appendage. It was assumed that she had not enough brain to be self-assertive.” This is the fate of 88year old widowed Lady Slane as her life lies in the hands of her six children, or as Sackville puts it “old, black ravens.” All Passion Spent

Continue Reading

 Literature │The Act of Life Between the Acts by Virginia Woolf (published in “Avrupa” newspaper)Between the Acts was published 1941 posthumously, in fact this novel had not gone through its final edits when Leonard Woolf decided that it should be published. As with all of Woolf’s work, she always felt depressed and apprehensive when concluding the writing process, it was a fear of how it would be received by the public that always seemed to put her in danger, and on completion of Between the Acts unfortunately it was not any different.It was with much excitement and sadness when I

Continue Reading

Literature │Anything Will Do Factotum by Charles Bukowski (published in “Avrupa” newspaper) “Well, it was a new town. Maybe I’d get lucky. The rain stopped and the sun came out.” These are the thoughts of Henry Chinaski as he navigates himself around America in search of work and on the ‘beating’ track of writing. Beat is the key word in this, as Bukowski is considered to be one of the beat writers; just like many of his predecessors, he travels across America as seen in Kerouac’s On the Road. Bukowski’s language and outlook on life, just as Kerouac’s is poetic,

Continue Reading

Literature │Writers Behaving Badly Wonder Boys by Michael Chabon (published in “Avrupa” newspaper) A dried up marijuana sipping writer, a nutty editor, a young suicidal pathologically lying student, a blind dog and a tuba are only a few of the fantastic ingredients thrown into a pot and cooked up in Chabon’s novel Wonder Boys. This novel focuses on events that take place over a weekend when Professor Grady Tripp’s editor comes to town seeking his manuscript which has boiled over the 2000 page mark. To be absolutely frank, the characters are terribly stereotypical; they fall with ease into one’s preconceptions

Continue Reading

Literature │The Road to Hope The Road by Cormac McCarthy (published in “Avrupa” ) Breath-taking, mesmerising and poetic are only a few words which can describe Cormac McCarthy’s The Road. An aspiring writer can only hope that they are able to create something, as good as little as a quarter of how well written The Road is. Cormac McCarthy is an entirely different breed of writer, famously known for being a recluse and not minding how many people read his work. He believes that his only job is to write, and not publicize, and write he will. McCarthy’s work came

Continue Reading

Literature│ Notes on a Scandal by Zoë Heller By Zehra Mustafa (published in “Avrupa” newspaper) Notes of a Scandal draws us into the terrifyingly chilling world of the cold, calculating and sardonic world of Barbara Covett. Heller’s story is a psychological thriller which is disturbing enough to leave you sitting still with your mouth gaping in astonishment as you watch disastrous events unfold before your very eyes.Notes of a Scandal follows the disturbing consequences of what happens when Barbara finds out that the new art teacher, Sheba Hart, is having an affair with one of the students. This unforgivable behavior

Continue Reading

Literature │ Step Outside Keeping the World Away by Margaret Forster (published in “Avrupa” newspaper) By Zehra Mustafa There’s something thrilling, exciting, if you will, when you come across a piece of literature, or art, that you don’t completely agree with, nay, one that you completely disagree with, especially when you do so with an open mind. Keeping the World Away is made up of seven parts, including a prologue. The story, or stories one should really say, are centered around a group of women, ranging from Edwardian Gwen, to Gillian, nearer to our present day. The other characters, such

Continue Reading

Literature │ And Here’s to You Mrs. Robinson The Graduate by Charles Web The Graduate, written by Charles Webb (1963) became a cult classic when it was turned into a film in 1967, starring Dustin Hoffman and Anne Bancroft, accompanied by the even more famous soundtrack by the “Simon & Garfunkel”, in my eyes, the book unfortunately had a lot of living up to do, as I had watched the film many years ago, and many times more since. The story depicts the painful confusion in which one goes through when one stops to think about what it is that

Continue Reading