LEO TOLSTOY

LEO TOLSTOY

LEO TOLSTOY

Leo Tolstoy was one the greatest writers of all time. As a writer he explored human nature as he saw it. His was a searching soul, ridden with conflicts, never finding peace even at the height of his fame when WAR AND PEACE and ANNA KARENINA got him great acclaim from the public and critics alike.

He was not stable as a person and led a reckless life in the beginning of his life. Later he suddenly turned very spiritual and that conflict raged within him. His marital conflicts also added to his mental burden. 

He wrote some beautiful short stories that showed the flawed nature of human beings. He added a prophetic touch to it, but his search had never got him peace. He was a great influence on Gandhi, and Gandhi too was experimenting with living styles. 

There are two aspects to a literary giant. One is his philosophy and the other is the expression of the truth as he sees it. In the second category, Leo Tolstoy was supreme and the Philosophy clashed with the artistry. But both juxtaposed into a thing of sheer art. He was determined to write it all out and did. 

Thus came out from that genius extraordinary writings in a long life of non stop writing. As an army man too, he would write. 

It was as if writing was his second voice and that voice paved the path for generations of writers with that determined, dogged and utterly never ending search. 

VICTOR HUGO

VICTOR HUGO

VICTOR HUGO (1802-1885)

Victor Hugo is one of the most extraordinary story tellers of the world. He used language, plot twists, deep themes in a manner that left you breathless with excitement. 

The device he used in telling stories were all a unity and it was sheer genius that stemmed from his romantic soul and that could convey an emotion, a thought, a theme, a situation and a story with that ability that would take the reader to dizzy heights of enjoyment. He was the foremost member of the romantic movement. There was a deep concern about man and his place in the universe, in the romantic movement and style of writing. Hugo was the best in that.

Novel after novel proves that. He would see men and his beliefs, and his conviction down to the roots, lay bare the human soul and the most ordinary character thus acquired grandeur in his novels. And the very beliefs deeply held led to ACTION and the conflicts flowed from the beliefs, the main theme at hand, and the characters will to act and assert!!

Thus Hugo created a whole world of life pulsating with drama, color imaginative themes and great , deeply defined and fashioned characters.

To read Hugo is to acquire that mind that reveres life, that loves idealism and realized that the ideal is not a fantasy but here, now before you, in great , deadly conflicts and in the battle to live an defined meaning in life. 

Works of Victor Hugo

MUNSHI PREMCHAND

MUNSHI PREMCHAND

PREMCHAND

Premchand was the greatest modern story teller of India and in the top in the world too. He was primarily a very genuine and concerned artist. For him art was the honest voice of the soul, no pretences and no hypocrisy. 

His stories on the surface are simple, about simple people. But the genuineness he brings to the story, the theme and the style of writing elevates the story to great ART!! 

The very simplicity and genuineness takes the reader to a region he had lived but never confronted. Premchand makes him to confront and see the folly, the danger of egotism, and the blindness. 

Each if his stories touch you deeply, making you ponder on the issues of life. But Premchand achieves this quietly, sincerely not by shouting or preaching. For that very reason the effect is dramatic in the way only Premchand could create. 

That is why he had a huge impact and even today, he is a leader in the modern movement in literature. 

RABINDRANATH TAGORE

RABINDRANATH TAGORE

RABINDRANATH TAGORE

Rabindranath Tagore was a complete artist. He was a story writer, poet, essayist, painter, and musician. 

What moves such an artist who left no field to give expression to the thing bursting within him?

It was his sensitivity to the world and the human condition which was always present. He lived his art and all that he saw, and all his personal quest and experiences found deep , passionate expression in all his various works of art in all fields. 

His poems and stories are filled with very sharp observations and delicate expression. He could move deeply just with his words and each story is touching, haunting and makes you feel the piece. 

He became an icon in India and in Bengal . He was part of the freedom movement but more as an independent mind looking at the events. And he never stopped short to criticize Indians too when he encountered hypocrisy. He stood primarily for internationalism and his novels and stories and poems expressed that. Yet he could be patriotic too, in a defined context and in that sense he was very modern. 

He had a deep spiritual bent of mind too, which is not surprising as all artists finally need to know the roots of things. His spiritual voice found expression in Gitanjali, a collection of haunting poems that got his the Nobel prize for literature in 1913. ,

All his life, he breathed art in all its forms and even taught by establishing a university called Shantiniketan that was a forerunner of modern methods of teaching. 

List of works :