Essay: On the writer William Saroyan: Like Mark Twain and Henry Miller, he was an American sport, hiding the necessary suspicion of monstrousness under his yelling love and optimism. He was merry and bright. Life handed him deep griefs, as it does to most of us. [San Francisco Chronicle]
The Arrow and the Poem: In the last decade, a new library of translations from Sanskrit has begun to appear. It is called the Clay Sanskrit Series, named after the generous donor who has made it all possible, John P. Clay, who took a degree in Sanskrit from Oxford University many years ago. More than thirty volumes have already appeared in this extraordinary project, with another twenty or more in the pipeline. [The New Republic]
Living without ‘isms’: As Gao said in 2000 when he became the first (and only) writer in Chinese to win the Nobel prize for literature, “it was only during this period, when literature became utterly impossible, that I came to comprehend why it was so essential.” [Guardian]
Russia’s literary light who illuminated dark world of Soviet regime: Alexander Solzhenitsyn, who has died aged 89, was a prolific novelist and memoirist, whose life’s work, in the best traditions of Russian literature, transcended the realm of pure letters. [Guardian]
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