Doyle's Sherlock or sheer luck

Out of Colombo, staying in an old homestead, I awoke before dawn and went out to the verandah. The colour was deep grey before discerning shapes of the surroundings appeared at dawn. There was a chill in the air though the wind had died down. As I was imbibing all this, there came a baying of a hound. I felt a thrill and a chill! Were the Baskerville hounds afoot? Aha! Before I could engage in further thoughts, a second baying followed and that stopped me in mid step. However, I regained my room. The baying, was it from a neighbourhood large dog?

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Geoffrey hill and the art of difficult poetry

Last week, in discussing the poetry of Geoffrey Hill I made the point that many literary critics find his poetry to be difficult. I also made the observation that there is an important distinction to be made between difficulty and obscurity. Difficulty can be either positive or negative depending on the context in, and the circumstances under which it finds articulation. Obscurity, on the contrary, is almost always negative signifying a failure on the part of the poet due to a complex of variables ranging from incompetence to showiness.

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Prof. Sivathamby and Tamil literary culture

Water will flow from a well in the sand in proportion to the depth to which it is dug, and knowledge will flow from a man in proportion to his learning.- ThiruKural This week’s column is dedicated to Prof. Karthigesu Sivathamby, internationally renowned Sri Lankan academic who was an authority on Tamil and whose demise at the age of 79 has created a void which is highly unlikely to be ever filled.

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