![]() When these cultural and sexual norms are deeply rooted, it is not a surprise South Asian descent romance authors stick to what is comfortable and familiar. ![]() Writing a queer book or queer characters is still partly received as a “different” story. Heterosexuality serves as a norm not only in South Asia, but in a western sphere as well. South Asia typically gets watered down to just India and then even further to Hindu culture and languages. Many South Asian romances written in English tend to be focused on Indian and Hindu culture and heterosexual relationships due to these being predominant cultural norms. ![]() ![]() This concept alone is a monumental move in representation for South Asians. The story is written in the perspective of Nishat, a Bangladeshi-Irish teen who recently came out to her Muslim parents as lesbian. ![]()
0 Comments
![]() ![]() Well, it does for the first 350 pages (it’s a long book – 746 pages) and then becomes bogged down in digressive passages so dull I can’t remember what they are about (Lord Steyne’s genealogy?). Thackeray writes with verve his humour sparkles off the page and dances through the absurdities of life in Vanity Fair. Like all the greats – Shakespeare, Trollope, Austen, Dickens – all human nature is here. ![]() Thackeray hated Regency styles so gave all his characters 1840s clothes, which was a bit jarring at first because I loved empire styles, but the writing carried me through.Īh, the writing. I still have the book – it’s a 1901 edition given to me by my father, who was an antiquarian bookdealer, illustrated with the charming line drawings done by Thackeray himself. The facsimile frontispiece from my 1901 copy of Vanity Fair ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ‘Timeless classic’ is an over-used phrase, but this is an absolute treat. Written by Munro Leaf and illustrated by Robert Lawson, it’s a wonderful picture book about a bull named Ferdinand who lives in the Spanish countryside. I vividly remember my first encounter with The Story of Ferdinand. But which also seek to develop a sense of morality and social responsibility, and which offer a subversive perspective on the world. For many years, authors of children’s literature have sought to write stories that relate to children’s needs, desires and emotional capabilities. It is the best means they have for taming Wild Things.Ĭhildren’s fiction can also develop in other, more radical, directions. And it is through fantasy that children achieve catharsis. They help us deal with the inevitable challenges that life throws at us and prepare us for the adult world.Īs the great children’s writer Maurice Sendak said,įrom their earliest years, children live on familiar terms with disrupting emotions, fear and anxiety are an intrinsic part of their everyday lives, they continually cope with frustrations as best they can. They opened our eyes to the richness and diversity of life around us.Ĭhildren’s books stimulate our imagination and provide a vital space to explore fear, hope and friendship. They introduced us to different places, different cultures and different people. ![]() We were all children once. And we remember the stories we heard or read as we grew up. ![]() |