O HENRY

O HENRY

O HENRY

Core essence

O Henry was a famous short story writer. Imagine a writer writing hundreds of stories each with a dramatic twist at the end!

What would you say of such a writer?

And each twist is not for the twist, but shows a deep, sympathetic humanity and love and laughter and feelings of warmth.

O Henry had a childlike, innocent and beautiful mind. And the way he uses language was so humorous, warm and deeply touching the heart all at once!

Each of stories has that unity of language, warmth and finally the twist. You cry, laugh, feel good. They are the most feel good stories ever written. Yet they are shorn of silly sentiment yet, deeply mushy and full of feeling!! THAT was and is the art of O Henry.

His stories can be read again and again and they would work as anti depressant pills. They would give you that sense of goodness and bring out the deeply held innocence, the child-man, in you too!!


Works of O Henry

DOSTOEVSKY

DOSTOEVSKY

DOSTOEVSKY

There is only one author who has exposed the dark corner of man’s soul fully down to its roots. That author is Dostoevsky. 

They are classic mysteries, and along with the brilliant plot twists, there is brilliant revelation of the evil in all of mankind, the beastly dark being, lurking within people and finding expression outside. 

Dostoevesky brings that all out, his focus is maniacal and he misses nothing. 

When you see Dostoevskian characters, you see the soul in the way it should not be, and thus you cleanse yourself. His effect is in the way of the negative, he teaches you how NOT to be and how you might be acting in self destruction.

Thus he is serious, morally profound and out to show the soul both in its light and the dark, usually dark!!

You come out of Dostoevsky entertained as you do in horror movies, but here real!! You are deeply entertained in a peculiarly intellectual way of discovering evil and you become wise and horrified , both!!

Dostoevsky remains unsurpassed in his depiction of the psychology of evil. 

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.