Witness how students of Tashkent University amaze India PM Modi with their talent and knowledge and reciting some of Modi's poems!

Amazing stuff! I did not know that Narendra Modi also published several collections of his poems.

(4) Witness how students of Tashkent University amaze PM with their talent and knowledge! - YouTube

Ulysses by James Joyce: Great Books Explained

Very recommendable!

I am not sure I really like these English word creations by James Joyce as exemplified in this video. They seem to be a little contrived.

(5) Ulysses by James Joyce: Great Books Explained - YouTube

The Gift of the Magi remembered or the spirit of Christmas giving

I guess, I was sort of familiar with this sentimental story, but I had almost forgotten it until now.

"On a cold December day in 1905, the American writer O. Henry (William Sydney Porter) introduced the world to two poor young lovers with hearts of gold. In “The Gift of the Magi,”

Della cuts her beautiful knee-length hair to buy her husband Jim a gold chain for his watch.

Meanwhile, Jim sells his watch, a magnificent family heirloom, to buy his wife a set of ornate combs for her hair.
Their love for each other motivated them to sacrifice their prized possessions in the spirit of Christmas giving. ..."

How a Century of Progress Changed Christmas - by Adam Omary

Source

Edgar Allen Poe, Forevermore

A recommendable biography in essay form! Today is Halloween 2025!

Poe, Forevermore – Emina Melonic

Source

Saviours of Sanskrit during British colonialism in India

Recommendable!

"‘Pundits’ kept Sanskrit scholarship alive in remote settlements as British control swept across India, a major new research project will show. The largely forgotten literary figures and their works – ranging from erotic plays to legal treatises – are neglected treasures of Indian intellectual achievement, its researchers argue.

English speakers are familiar with the word ‘pundit’ but few know that it comes from the Sanskrit word paṇḍita, meaning ‘learned’. Now a Cambridge University-led project is going in search of the pundits, Brahmin scholars, who kept writing poems, plays, philosophy, theology, legal texts and other forms of literature in Sanskrit as Britain tightened its grip on India.

It has long been assumed that the expansion of British power in India from the seventeenth century steadily suffocated Sanskrit scholarship. But the experts behind an ambitious new project argue that the two centuries leading up to the establishment of the British Raj in 1858 were, in fact, a golden age of Sanskrit intellectual thought, literature, and arts. They point to the scholarly activities of hundreds of pundits dispersed across the Indian countryside in Brahmin settlements (agrahāra) and monasteries (maṭha). ..."

Saviours of Sanskrit "Indian literary genius survived British imperialism in forgotten villages, new research reveals."

Was ‘Aeneid’ critiquing or glorifying empire?

Recommendable! Those ancient heroes and Homer!

Was ‘Aeneid’ critiquing or glorifying empire? — Harvard Gazette "Authors of new translation dig into lasting impact of epic that Virgil wanted burned"

Deutscher Literaturkritiker und Journalist beim ARD: Eine „hirnlose Wichsvorlage für Rassisten und Faschisten“

Das ist eine ziemliche Entgleisung für die öffentlich rechtlichen Medien!

Wann hat dieser Denis Scheck (60 Jahre alt) zum letzten mal gewichst oder gebumst?

Hat der Mann seine sexuellen, unterdrückten Fantasien in seiner Literaturkritik abgelassen? Was würde Sigmund Freud dazu sagen? 😊 

Hilflose Literaturkritik: „Nicht hilfreich“ war gestern – heute ist „hirnlose Wichsvorlage“ "Angela Merkel bezeichnete Sarrazins Buch einst als „nicht hilfreich“ – Denis Scheck macht da keine halben Sachen mehr und dreht mit „hirnlose Wichsvorlage“ für Gerald Grosz' Buch über Merkels Vermächtnis den Eskalationsregler voll auf."

Das kritisierte Buch. Hier ist mein blog post zu SED Kanzlerin Merkel

Ein Zitat von Thomas Mann

Über die Deutschen:

„Vous aimez l’ordre mieux que la liberté, tout l’Europe le sait.“ – 

„Ihr liebt eure Ordnung mehr als die Freiheit, das weiß ganz Europa.“

Da ist was dran! Ein Grund warum ich in die USA ausgewandert bin.

Open Axis Launch - Dilara Wiemann - "Herbst der Reformen" - David Chichkan - Zauberberg

The Romantics That Revolutionized Our Understanding Of The Mind with Simon Schama

Very recommendable! Covers Victor Hugo, Thomas de Quincey, Clara & Richard Schuhmann and others. How opium was discovered for mind exploration and literature. The first psychoanalysis and more.

Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter Explained

Recommendable!

‘The World Through the poet Taras Shevchenko’s Eyes’ – Kyiv’s 5-Meter-High Bust Unveiled

Poetry in war times! Russian Tsar Nicholas I persecuted him!

"On Tuesday, Aug. 5, a large, yellow five-meter (16.4-feet) high bust of Ukraine’s national poet Taras Shevchenko was unveiled in Kyivʼs Taras Shevchenko Park, close to the monument that celebrates the man. The object is an interactive installation dubbed “The World Through Shevchenkoʼs Eyes,” and will be open until Aug. 15. ...

Often known as the “Great Kobzar,” after his collection of poetry that itself refers to the traditional Ukrainian Kobzar, or traveling minstrel ...

Born into a peasant family in 1814 his talent for art and writing, which was noticed and encouraged by several patrons early on, he was arrested in 1847 by the Tsarist Russian police, sentenced to 25 years military service, and exiled – with an order handwritten by Nicholas I himself that forbade him from writing or painting. The injunction was only lifted after the Tsar died 10 years later, though he was arrested several times in the coming years for producing works that the Russian authorities considered to be “anti-government and blasphemous.” ..."

‘The World Through Shevchenko’s Eyes’ – Kyiv’s 5-Meter-High Bust Unveiled "On Tuesday an interactive installation dedicated to Ukraine’s great poet, writer and artist, Taras Shevchenko [1814-1861], was positioned in the park that bears his name in the center of the capital."

The five-meter-high installation dedicated to Ukraine’s Taras Shevchenko.

Thomas Mann: Meine Zeit - Buddenbrookhaus - Die Lübecker Museen

Wahrscheinlich eine sehr interessante Ausstellung!

"Am 06. Juni 2025 wäre Thomas Manns 150. Geburtstag. Das Buddenbrookhaus möchte mit einer Sonderausstellung, welche vor allem Thomas Manns politische Zeitenwenden hin zu einem überzeugten Demokraten in den Blick nimmt, den Literaten feiern. Ausgangspunkt und narrativer Faden ist seine Rede Meine Zeit von 1950.

In seiner Rede Meine Zeit von 1950, erstmals gehalten in Chicago, erklärt Thomas Mann jedem „totalen Staat“ und jeder „dogmatischen Diktatur“ eine klare Absage. Es ist ein wortgewaltiger Vortrag, der dem Totalitarismus gleich welcher Art vorwirft, stets der Lüge durch Gewalt zur Wahrheit zu verhelfen. Damit stellt der Text auch einen Höhepunkt in Thomas Manns politischer Entwicklung vom reichstreuen Konservativen zum Vernunftrepublikaner bis hin zum überzeugten Demokraten dar. Die Ausstellung des Buddenbrookhauses zeichnet diese Politisierung anhand von sechs großen Zeitenwenden in Thomas Manns Gedanken- und Lebenswelt nach: von der Reichsgründung 1871 über den Ersten Weltkrieg und die Ausrufung der ersten deutschen Republik bis zu ihrem Ende, von dem Überfall auf Polen 1939 und der Teilung Deutschlands 1949.

Es ist in der Ausstellung Thomas Mann selbst, der erzählt: Sein O-Ton, überliefert in unzähligen Artikeln, Essays, Tagebucheinträgen, Reden, Interviews, Radiobeiträgen usw. gibt der Schau ihren narrativen Faden. Dass Thomas Mann seine politische Geisteshaltung immer auch literarisch reflektiert hat, von Buddenbrooks bis Doktor Faustus, bildet den jeweiligen Übergangzwischen den einzelnen Ausstellungsabschnitten. ..."

Meine Zeit - Buddenbrookhaus - Die Lübecker Museen

Credits: der Freitag

Great Books Explained: The Tempest by Shakespeare

Recommendable! Shakespeare's final play!

John Ronald Reuel Tolkien - He Didn’t Just Write a Story — He Built a Universe

Recommendable!

Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina: Love. Scandal. Ruin. Suicide

Very recommendable! I never read the book, but I know it is a great work of literature.

UNESCO Honours Ancient Indian Texts Bhagavad Gita, Natyashastra with Palki Sharma

Good news! Recommendable!

What ancient animal fables from India teach about political wisdom

Recommendable! I was not aware of such animal fables from India. Very interesting!

Caveat: I did not read the entire article.

What ancient animal fables from India teach about political wisdom

China Miéville, a weird fiction writer

If one's first name is indeed China and the last name is similar to Herman Melville, then what kind of literature would one likely be writing? Caution: satire.

"He often describes his work as "weird fiction", and is allied to the loosely associated movement of writers called New Weird."

Some authors strive to create a persona, sometimes larger than their literary output.

China Miéville - Wikipedia

Credits: China Miéville says we shouldn’t blame science fiction for its bad readers

Goethe, Schiller und die „Weimarer Klassik“

Sehr empfehlenswert!

The unlikely origins of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Thumb take a hike! 😊