Manifesto of the communist party

Manifesto of the communist party By Karl Marx
    ...The proletarians have nothing to lose but their chains. 

It is more often than not seen that literature on historical movements loses its significance with time. This book ,however, is a paradigm of the opposite. Karl Marx has not only described the philosophy of communism, but has also taken up the cudgels on the behalf of the communists and answered each accusation rhetorically.

This book first describes what communism preaches, then addresses charges against communisms, censures bourgeois for manipulating the meaning of “freedom”,”property” and “reward” and finally describes how communism is being forwarded in each country. The writing is not readily comprehensible and might take getting used to. This is because all the statements of this book assume that the reader has a background of the world when this movement emerged.Hence, It is esoteric in the sense that it will be comprehended by historians and politics students more efficaciously than by the general readers. Also, the statements given in this book seem to be deducing general principles from general principles ,thus lowering the logical soundness of this work. Notwithstanding these flaws, this book will make the reader understand human fixation to “changing the world”. It will, at a juncture, even project that communists are striving just for “change” with or without betterment. In the end the reader must ask himself whether Polybius’ sequence of anacyclosis: monarchy to kingship to tyranny to aristocracy to oligarchy to democracy to ochlocracy will ever stop and whether people will ever grow tire of “change”.

Behind the Beyond Review

Behind the Beyond By Stephen Leacock
  ...Tea in a problem play is the same as whisky in a melodrama 


Behind the Beyond is a collection of humorous short stories based on satire, irony and situational humor. These stories include grand backdrops like the chateau of versailles and Moulin Rouge of Paris as well as commonplace backdrops like the dentist’s and Hair saloon. The stories have themes like fear, apprehension, hyperbole, adventure and boredom.

Each story in this gamut of tales will overwhelm the reader so much as to kill him with hysteria. The wit ,of Leacock, is downrightly quick and malignant. Even the most austere critics will not be able to contain their chuckles while reading these stories. The sentence structure is easy to read if the reader does not fall from fits of laughter. One of the most amusing feature of this book is that the lines end abruptly and give the reader just enough time to understand the humor. This makes the humor unprecedented and unpredictable, which makes these stories all the more covetable. It is difficult to understand why some parts make one laugh when really there is nothing extraordinary about them. One must just accept ,at the end, that this is because of earnestness of writing,stupendous timing and great sense of humor of Leacock. I must confess that this book is the greatest piece of comic literature, nay, art that I have known. It is recommend to all who have even a little appetite for comedy.

The Turn Of The Screw

The Turn Of The Screw By Henry James
        ..What does he matter now, my own? 

This is a horror/ thriller novella about a governess who experiences some supernatural phenomena while taking care of her charges. A rich young man sends her to take care of his nephew and niece and instructs her to not bother him in any way. However simple the storyline may seem, the writing style has made it difficult to assimilate.

Henry Jame’s writing style is intentionally ambiguous, unstructured and misleading. It seems that he wants his readers to interpret the story by finding clues or explanation externally. The words he chooses are bloated with emotions. Each character responds preternaturally to simple situations;but in the situations which are paranormal, they appear quite at peace. In other words,the author has magnified the normal and undermined the paranormal as if to show that there is nothing extraordinary in the supernatural and human emotions are more prodigious than effect of ghosts. Unfortunately, complicated sentence structure and the careless use of modifiers have rendered this tale unfit for consumption by occasional readers. The language seems so pretentious at some junctures as to overpower the genuine emotions of characters the author had intended to describe. The novella lacks the character development of Dostoevsky ,romance of Oscar Wilde ,Persistence of Charles Dickens and economy of Bertrand Russel. In toto, despite the psychoanalytical interpretations that this work is capable of, it in no way stands its own reputation. This novel is recommend only if it is the only work the reader possesses.

The Problems Of Philosophy

The Problems Of Philosophy By Bertrand Russel
...while diminishing our feeling of certainty as to what things are, philosophy greatly increases our knowledge as to what they may be

This book outlines various problems of philosophy about which positive and constructive criticism is possible. Since metaphysical elements do not easily stand the criticism, this book is largely based upon epistemological elements. Topics like Appearance, reality, matter, idealism, induction, a priori knowledge are covered briefly, to give the reader a romp through philosophy.

Bertrand Russel stands his own reputation well through this book.Though it deals with some of the most abstract topics of philosophy,it is easy to read and follow. The writing is succinct, coherent and meaningful. Words are economically used without ambiguity. The content is carefully written so as to avoid prejudices or favoritism. Bertrand Russel plainly gives the accounts of different philosophers , and compares them logically. He is very cautious as not to deduce any general result from the aforementioned comparison.He attempts to uncover the real meaning behind terms like “truth”, “belief” and “ideas” thus liberating the reader from the shackles of vague logic behind theories. In this he appears to have been to a great extent, if not fully, successful. His simple words, terse statements and sound logic make this book a success. It must be noted that this book contains theories which must be known prior to reading it. Hence , reader must have a basic knowledge of the history of philosophy. This book is recommend for all those who want to ask questions.

The Canterville Ghost Review

The Canterville Ghost By Oscar Wilde
       …I will take the furniture and the ghost at a valuation 

Is not every creature that can think, haunted by fear? Aren’t the tribulations of an unredeemable soul as melancholic as those of a faithful person? Oscar Wilde’s “Canterville Ghost” is the answer to all these questions. Though comic at first, the story gradually becomes what all Oscar wilde’s stories are – romantic and passionate.

The sentence structure is easy to read and fable-like. The story is not multilayered or subtle. Though morals can be deduced from this story, it hardly seems to be the real purpose of this story. Oscar Wilde did not use his pen to make his readers learn something. He wanted to give another tale to be devoured by the world, which can then rejoice in the “human nature” of the supernatural, thus attempting to bring the supernatural in nature’s reach. All the same, though the story is written in a comic style, yet Wilde has ensured that it does not undermine the power of supernatural phenomena.In the tale, he leaves no doubt of existence of ghosts, and they are not at all creatures of pure malice. Though they might have been immoral in life, they can still attain a peaceful death and an angelic grace. Thus, Oscar Wilde gives hope to the wrongful to muster strength for redemption and power to the rightful to help the wrongful in redemption.This story is recommend for all Oscar Wilde readers ,as well as , as a bedtime story for children.