[The story of what happened before my novel “The Revised Kama Sutra” was published by Viking Penguin India. [from “The Killing of an Author””} One of the two editors who had been holding out (the other being Morgan Entrekin of Atlantic Monthly Press), and one who according to Harriet had almost offered and then changed…
Are You a Madrasi? [An Excerpt from the memoir by John Baptist Crasta, Eaten by the Japanese. This scene takes place in Rabaul, New Britain, in a Japanese POW camp.] I had an attack of malaria in the first week of July 1943. I could not get even a drop of hot water. There on…
Imagine living in a world with just one mirror, a mirror that is permanently fogged up except for one square centimeter of clear space in which you must see yourself. That’s what you are risking when you take that first benzodiazepine pill, and particularly if you use it nonstop for three weeks or more. Russell’s…
The History of Conquest from Prehistoric Times to the 1920s: In the jolly old days, conquering other countries was a venerable sport, guaranteed to work wonders for everything from your image to your complexion. It was easy as picking your nose, or blowing up a few hundred natives with the latest model cannon, whichever you…
Secret Offer for Non-Superpowers: Limited Expansion Opportunities Now Opening! NOT A SUPERPOWER YET? NOT TO WORRY! NOW YOU, TOO, CAN JOIN CONQUEST, INC., A TIME-SHARING ENTERPRISE (The Coalition of Willing Sidekicks) Non-superpowers of the World! Have you given up your dreams of conquest, roasting children, electrocution of genitals, and sexual enslavement of inferior races, because…
As Japanese Prime Minister Abe continues to deny his country’s history, perhaps this piece, that I wrote some time back, comes to mind: I just saw Railway Man, the movie based on the bestselling book: the true story of Eric Lomax, a former British prisoner-of-war who decided to confront his nightmares by confronting his Japanese…
[Before you even start, this essay or edition is an afterthought; The Killing of an Author has been loved by some wonderful people–and was No. 1 on a list of books recommended by NDTV, for a couple of months. It can be judged on the basis of the book alone, not this recently added Preface.]…
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