Anand Neelakantan is an Indian author known for his retellings of mythological and historical stories. Born in Thripunithura, Kerala, Neelakantan has carved a niche for himself by offering fresh perspectives on well-known tales, challenging established narratives and questioning the traditional portrayal of characters. Neelakantan’s literary journey began with his debutContinue Reading
Featured Image: Vikramjit Kakati, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons Arundhati Roy is an Indian author, activist, and essayist who gained international fame with her debut novel, The God of Small Things, which won the Booker Prize for Fiction in 1997 and became the best-selling book by a non-expatriate Indian author. She has been aContinue Reading
Aravind Adiga is an accomplished Indian-Australian author best known for his debut novel, The White Tiger, which won the Man Booker Prize for Fiction in 2008. Born on October 23, 1974, in Chennai, India, Adiga’s literary works explore the complexities of contemporary Indian society, addressing issues such as class struggle, corruption,Continue Reading
Featured Image Attribution: Clinton Library, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons Poems “Still I Rise”Continue Reading
Chinua Achebe, a Nigerian novelist, poet, and critic, is regarded as a central figure of modern African literature and one of the most important voices in what is now known as postcolonial literature. His first novel and magnum opus, Things Fall Apart, occupies a pivotal place in African literature and remainsContinue Reading
Anna Akhmatova, born Anna Andreyevna Gorenko on June 23, 1889, in Bolshoy Fontan near Odessa, Ukraine, was one of the most prominent and influential Russian poets of the 20th century. Her life and work were marked by profound personal and political turmoil, making her a symbol of resilience and artisticContinue Reading
“Still I Rise” is the title poem in Maya Angelou’s third collection of poetry, And Still I Rise (1978). One of Angelou’s most acclaimed works, the poem can be broadly regarded as an exemplary assertion of the dignity and resilience of marginalized people in the face of oppression, more specifically, a critique of anti-blackContinue Reading
Of her fifth husband,Jankyn, the Wife of Bath has the most to say. She loved him, even though he treated her horribly and beat her. He was coy and flattering in bed, and always won her back. Women, the Wife says, always desire what is forbidden them, and run awayContinue Reading
The Wife of Bath’s relationship with her first three husbands in her Prologue serves the Wife’s purpose of describing the “wo that is in mariage” because of how badly she mistreats them. It also provides the Wife to air her views on the role and power of women in maritalContinue Reading
Based on the tradition of the medieval genre of allegorical “confession” where a personified vice such as Gluttony or Lust “confesses” his or her sins to the audience in a life story, the character of the Wife of Bath is exactly what the medieval Church saw as a “wicked woman.”Continue Reading
