DAWN - Books and Authors; January 20, 2008

January 20, 2008

Welcome to a generous selection of articles from DAWN's Weekly Books & Authors.
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A love affair with truth WHY do we employ trite epithets to describe Saadat Hasan Manto? He was a ‘genius’; he was a ‘gifted’ writer; he had an ‘uncanny ability’ to hold a mirror up to nature; he was ‘able’ to see society stark naked, etc....		REVIEW: A journalists’ paradise AMIT Baruah is one of those Indians who have a soft corner for Pakistan and are thus genuinely interested in the improvement of relations between the two countries. He served in Islamabad from April 1997 to June 2000 as The Hindu’s special correspondent;...

REVIEW: All rise AN impressive work of investigative reporting and yet another chapter added in the ongoing propaganda campaign against ‘ghastly Islamist violence’. Nevertheless, there is a lesson to be learnt from the failure of the Saudi government...		REVIEW: Carving words GILLIAN Flynn’s deliciously dark debut novel, Sharp Objects begins when Camille Preaker — six months out of a mental institution — is asked by her well-meaning editor to return to her hometown of Wind Gap, Missouri to cover a story....

REVIEW: The truth about Tony TONY Blair was known to be the cheeky, argumentative schoolboy who drove his teachers to distraction. When at Oxford University, Blair had rock star fantasies when he founded a band called Ugly Rumours,...		AUTHOR: Breaking new ground OF herself Leila Aboulela says, ‘I write about what I find disturbing and moving. If I don’t have the emotions then I can’t write. I’m inspired by how people from different...

EXCERPT: Passing through I LOOKED down on the final mile of the Khyber Pass, towards the eastern entrance, as the sun behind me cast a weakening light upon the winding road ahead. It was late afternoon and the bright winter sky was beginning to deepen in colour, presaging dusk....		EXCERPT: Khyber’s legacy BUZKASHI is a traditional sport of Central Asia and Afghanistan. Its players, sitting on horsebacks, aim to move the carcass of a headless goat to the goal....

TRIBUTE: In memoriam 2007 JANUARY Art Buchwald, 81, Legendary US columnist and Pulitzer prize-winning author Sidney Sheldon, 89,...		REVIEW: Waris Shah and sociology SHAAISTA Nuzhat has done her masters in philosophy on the sociological aspect of Waris Shah’s poetry which, according to her, is limited to the story of Heer-Ranjha, an actual happening of the period of Behlol Lodhi in 1484 AD....

REVIEW: Melancholy verses THE kuliyat (complete works) of Syed Sabit Ali Shah is a product of profound scholarship and research and has recently been published under a brand new title. In step with the arrival of moharram,...		COLUMN: Brahmans in Karbala WITH the arrival of Muharram this year, I was reminded of an encounter I had with an unusual, intelligent girl in Delhi who asserted that she was a Husaini Brahman. I recall referring to Prem Chand’s play ‘Karbala’ in one of my addresses, which was based on a legend....