By: April Mae Berza Kristine Ong Muslim’s Black Arcadia is a mesmerizing poetry collection that offers a haunting exploration of the human experience, blending dark beauty with moments of tenderness. It’s a work that, at first glance, might seem to…
By: Ramlal Agarwal Abraham Verghese’s The Covenant of Water (2023, Grove Press) is a formidable novel. It is 717 pages long and covers 75 years. It is about three generations and people from three countries. It delineates imperceptible changes from…
By Onkar Sharma Romance stories rarely capture my attention, but Love It Was Never Meant for Me by Kulbhushan Chaudhary, alias KK, proved to be an exception. Despite sitting on my desk untouched for over a week, once I began…
By Onkar Sharma Neha Bansal’s “Six of Cups” is a poignant journey through memory, a collection that vividly recreates the landscapes of childhood and youth. Bansal’s strength lies in her evocative imagery, transforming ordinary moments into sensory experiences for the…
By: Ramlal Agarwal V.S. Naipaul had a curious relationship with India. It was a country of his ancestors who settled in Trinidad as indentured labourers. He had grown up in Trinidad among a sizeable community of Indians who practised Hindu…
By Thomas Sanfilip It is difficult to say, though bears repeating, that poetry holds no sway over modern culture, it has drifted into obscure corners so distant, it has become merely an artifact, an oddity, a peculiar expression that has…
By Thomas Sanfilip There is no question the diary can be adapted into other literary forms of narrative—it has been done countless times over the centuries and lent its form particularly to fiction, yet the cheap, first-person narratives that litter…
Lately, Literary Yard team has tried to pull through some of the famous titles for review. “The Midnight Library” by Matt Haig is one such that is not only a captivating novel but one that delves into themes of regret,…
The essay that follows reflects my understanding of these extraordinary stories through the lens of a literary reading, i.e., setting down the baggage that comes from reading the texts as sacred and instead engaging with them as literature, as suggested by the literary critic Harold Bloom in his “The Book of J.”
Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird” promotes compassion to counteract racism, as illustrated by Atticus Finch’s advice to his daughter Scout. Research from Stanford and the University of Texas reinforces the importance of compassion and self-compassion for psychological and social well-being. Kindness and compassion also have contagious effects that benefit society. However, global happiness is declining, a phenomenon that can be remedied by fostering compassion, which is crucial for a content and connected society.