Unsullied attitude

Unsullied attitude

Shirley is among the less known works of Charlotte Bronte.  At a time when women had considerably fewer options in deploying their energies and talents, Shirley is a strong character with attitude and resources.   I loved the ‘Pah to all that’ feeling in...
A luminous human

A luminous human

Certainly the strongest and most loving influence on Gorky’s troubled childhood was his grandmother.  Her capacity to maintain her belief in life and humanity despite repeated evidence of its worst aspects, is astonishing.  Here Gorky pays tribute to the power...
Aristocrats of the spirit

Aristocrats of the spirit

Are you one?  If not, why not?  An aristocrat of the spirit doesn’t need palatial dwellings or magniloquent titles, just a spirit imbued with creativity and its impulses.   This noble characterisation is Durrell’s way of paying tribute to an Austrian...
On hoarding your rowdiness

On hoarding your rowdiness

Mary Delany (1700-1788) wins a Nuannaarpoq award, which will be formally bestowed elsewhere. She lived in an era which constrained women of her class like a thorax in a corset, making it hard to breathe. Yet despite some stunning denials of her freedom and feelings,...

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