Category Literature

What is the main theme of The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton?

‘The Outsiders’ by American author S.E. Hinton is a timeless coming-of-age novel that explores the universal themes of identity and belonging. Set against the backdrop of gang violence in the 1960s America, the novel follows the struggles of a group of teenagers as they navigate the complexities of friendship, family, and social class. Let us revisit the classic and see what makes it relevant today.

About the author

Susan Eloise Hinton was born in 1950 in Tulsa, Oklahoma. She wrote the majority of her debut novel ‘The Outsiders’ at the age of 15, while she was still attending high school. However, when she submitted a shorter version of the story for a creative writing class, her teacher gave her a failing grade of F. Fortunately, a family friend recognised the potential of her work and contacted a publisher on Hinton’s behalf. Things took a turn in her favour and by the time she was 17, the book was in print.

At the recommendation of her publisher, ‘The Outsiders’ was published under the name S.E Hinton. The decision was made out of the concern that boys may not be inclined to read the novel if they knew a female author wrote it.

The Outsiders Recommended age: 12+

Set in Oklahoma in the 1960s, the novel follows the story of Ponyboy Curtis, a 14-year-old boy from a poor family who is part of a gang called the greasers. The greasers are constantly at odds with a rival gang called the socs, who come from wealthier families. When a violent confrontation between the two groups leaves one of the socs dead, Ponyboy and his friend Johnny Cade go on the run, setting off a chain of events that forces them to confront the harsh realities of their world and the importance of loyalty and friendship.

What makes it a classic?

Authenticity

Hinton’s literary legacy is grounded in a simple principle: authenticity. By staying true to this guiding principle and presenting unflinching depictions of life’s trials and tribulations, she has captured the hearts and minds of young readers for generations. Her iconic novel ‘The Outsiders’, delves deep into the timeless themes of identity, belonging, and the struggles of adolescence, resonating with readers of all ages. Hinton herself acknowledges that the reason for her enduring popularity is that she writes for teenagers with honesty and candour, never sugarcoating the realities of life. Through her characters’ complex and multifaceted journeys, Hinton delivers a powerful message about the importance of friendship, loyalty, and the search for meaning in a world that can often seem overwhelming.

Young adult fiction redefined

The literary landscape of adolescent or young adult (YA) literature was forever changed with the release of The Outsulers, as it broke the mould of traditional teen focussed fiction by giving a raw and authentic voice to the adolescent experience No longer were teenagers relegated to mere background characters or stereotypical caricatures, but instead, they became the vibrant and complex protagonists of their own stories.

Although some grown-ups were initially taken aback by Hinton’s unflinching portrayal of a world rife with peer pressure, entrenched social hierarchies, parental abuse, and gang violence, the novel quickly became a cultural touchstone for young people and writers alike. Its immense influence on the genre cannot be understated, and many scholars even trace the birth of contemporary YA fiction back to the groundbreaking publication of ‘The Outsiders’ in 1967.

Hinton’s masterpiece not only legitimised YA literature as a serious and important genre but also inspired a generation of writers to explore the rich, multifaceted lives of young adults in their own work. ‘The Outsiders’ remains a timeless classic and a shining example of the power of literature to give voice to the voiceless and empower those who have been traditionally marginalised.

Life inspires art

As a high school student, Hinton was troubled by the divisions that existed within her school, particularly the bitter rivalries between different gangs. These gangs were primarily determined by economic and social status. Growing up on the rough side of the town, Hinton was keenly aware of the challenges that these kids faced and the stereotypes that were often perpetuated in popular culture. In fact, her dissatisfaction with the way that teen life was being portrayed in books was the driving force behind her decision to write ‘The Outsiders’.

‘There was only a handful of books having teenage protagonists…. I was surrounded by teens and I could not see anything going on in those books that had anything to do with real life.” Hinton said about the inspiration behind her best-selling debut novel.

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What is Vikram Seth famous for?

Vikram Seth is the author of “A Suitable Boy”, one of the longest books ever published in English. As the literary world celebrates 30 years of “A Suitable Boy”, let’s read up on the Indian author who seamlessly shifts between different genres.

Indian author Vikram Seth is noted for his magnum opus “A Suitable Boy”, one of the longest books ever published in English literature. And despite it running into more than a thousand pages, the book was widely celebrated and Seth made an indelible mark on the literary world.                 

Early life

Seth was born to Leila Seth (judge) and Prem Nath Seth (business executive), on June 20, 1952, in Kolkata, India. He was raised in London and India. After attending Indian schools, he graduated from Corpus Christi College, Oxford.

In 1978, he received a master’s degree in Economics from Stanford University and later studied classical Chinese poetry and languages at Nanjing University, China. He returned to India to live in New Delhi in 1987.

Writing career

Originally a poet, Seth is known for seamlessly shifting between different genres of writing and coming up with compelling works. Seth’s first volume of poetry “Mappings” was published in 1980.

It was after he published the humorous travelogue “From Heaven Lake” (1983) that he gained critical attention. The story centred around his hitchhiking journey from Nanking to New Delhi via Tibet. The first novel to be published was “The Golden Gate”. “All You Who Sleep Tonight.”, “Beastly Tales from Here and There” and the poetry collections “The Poems, 1981-1994” (1995) and “Summer Requiem” (2015) are some of his other works.

“An Equal Music’ (1999), a love story revolving around the world of professional musicians is yet another noted work of his. A lesser-known fact is Seth’s musical acumen must have helped him in writing this piece. He was even commissioned to write a libretto (text of an opera) for the English National Opera in 1994. It was published as “Arion and the Dolphin”. It is said that his work “Two Lives” is dear to his heart as it is part memoir, part family history. It revolves around the story of Seth’s great aunt “Henny”, a German Jew, and his Indian great uncle “Shanti”.

Through the book he is not only retelling their story but also trying to find answers to the unique alliance between a German Jew (who lost her family in the Holocaust) and his great uncle who served in the Second World War.

Having travelled widely and lived in Britain, California, India and China, Seth drew inspiration from his experiences for his writing. His first novel “The Golden Gate: A Novel in Verse” (1986) revolves around a group of friends living in California. The book won the WH Smith Literary Award and the Commonwealth Writers Prize (Overall Winner, Best Book). He has also authored a travel book “From Heaven Lake: Travels Through Sinkiang and Tibet (1983)”, which traces the journeys through Tibet, China and Nepal. It won the Thomas Cook Travel Book Award. “Beastly Tales from Here and There” (1992) is a children’s book that has ten stories about animals which are told in verse. He has also translated the works of Chinese, German and Hindi poets.

A Suitable Boy

Seth turned to prose in “A Suitable Boy”, exploring the relationships between four Indian families. The book is noted for its gripping narrative style. Despite the fact that “A Suitable Boy” ran to 1,349 pages, it didn’t deter readers and sold over one million copies worldwide.

The author took some eight years to write “A Suitable Boy”. Set in India around the time the country had gained independence, the book follows a mothers quest to find a suitable boy to marry her daughter Lata Mehra. It was critically acclaimed and was also made into a BBC mini-series by Mira Nair in 2020.

For the past few years, the literary world has been waiting with bated breath for a sequel to this book called “A Suitable Girl”. The story is believed to be set in contemporary India, as our former protagonist Lata, now a grandmother, tries matchmaking for her grandson. As the wait for his next book continues, why don’t you pick up “A Suitable Boy” and give it a read?

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India’s first graphic novel is back in print!

Between 1991 and 1994, Indian graphic artist Orijit Sen drew inspiration from influential works like Art Spiegelman’s ‘Maus’ and Keiji Nakazawa’s ‘Barefoot Gen’ to create India’s groundbreaking first graphic novel, River of Stories. This timeless work serves as a poignant critique of India’s idea of development and political practices. It revolves around the fictional Rewa Andolan, closely mirroring the real-life Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA), a people’s movement fighting against the displacement caused by the construction of the Sardar Sarovar Dam. Illustrated entirely by hand, the graphic novel delves into a decades-long struggle raising pertinent questions about the notion of development. Though the dam was eventually built, the movement’s core concerns, such as “development for, whom?” remain deeply relevant today.

 Originally published in 1994 and later going out of print, a new edition of this powerful work was released by Blaft Publications in 2022, featuring a foreword by Indian author Arundhati Roy.

River of Stories

This hand-illustrated novel span 62 pages and intricately weaves together two distinct narratives. One revolves around Vishnu, a spirited journalist from Delhi, who embarks on a journey to the valley, documenting the protests of the Rewa Andolan. The other narrative draws upon the rich mythologies of the Adivasis, painting the enchanting tale of Malgu Gayan, a singer whose melodic tunes bring to life the ancient origins of the river.

The new edition

In this new edition, Orijit Sen acknowledges the significant changes that have occurred since he originally penned the graphic novel. The Narmada Bachao Andolan has progressed, and the landscape has evolved. Sen had contemplated creating an illustrated preface. The purpose was to contextualise the scenario of the early ’90s and highlight the changes that have occurred in the Narmada Valley since then.

Additionally, he wanted to shed light on the broader situation of Adivasi and indigenous communities in the present time. However, despite having this idea, Sen had never acted upon it. It was Sen’s daughter who ultimately convinced him to reprint the book. “She reminded me to see it for what it is: River of Stories might be the first Indian graphic novel, but more importantly, it is almost a historical document that represents a crucial moment in time in the Narmada Andolan,” he says.

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Shakespeare’s lost play

Literary scholars have always alluded to the fact that there are many plays by brilliant English playwright William Shakespeare that have not seen the light of day and Cardenio might be the most popular of them all.

Most scholars suggest that The History of Cardenio often simply called Cardenio was written in 1613. As it is one of Shakespeare’s later contributions, it is (like many of his later plays) believed to be co-authored.

In the last stages of his career, Shakespeare is said to have been working with a writing partner, English dramatist John Fletcher. The two of them co-wrote ‘The Two Noble Kinsmen’ in 1613 and prior to this had also joined forces to write a history play, ‘Henry VIl’l which is also known as ‘All is True’.

Cardenio

The argument of dating the play to 1613 is supported by the fact that the records of the treasurer of the King’s chamber to King James state that two payments were made to Shakespeare’s drama company King’s Men in 1613 for plays called “Cardenna” and “Cardenno” These two records are presumed to refer to the same play (Cardenio) as rules for spelling were not standardised in Shakespeare’s time. Therefore, these records are taken as evidence that Cardenio was written around 1613.

The titular character of this play is also a recurring figure in one of the most influential works of Spanish literature Miguel de Cervante’s Don Quote. Written and published in 1605, the first English translation of this Spanish classic came around 1612. Therefore, it is fairly safe for us to assume that Shakespeare and Fletcher would have taken inspiration from this translated version of the novel.

Never published

For some reason, John Heminge and Henry Contell did not include Cardenio in the First Folio (1623), which was the first significant compilation of the English playwright’s works. As a result, the play was never published or made available to the general public.

Lost and forgotten

Many scholars and researchers have come up with theories to justify why this play was not included in the First Folio and how or why it got lost.

One of the possible answers for excluding it can be that it was written in collaboration, but the folio does include co-authored plays such as Henry VIII and Two Gentlemen of Verona, so this cannot be the reason.

Another suggestion is that they did not include it as they did not have a written copy – because the manuscript was destroyed in the fire that burnt down Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre on June 29, 1613. Or perhaps the play, fresh from its early performance at the King’s court in 1613, was new enough that no copy had been made of text and that the only text of the manuscript was in the Globe when it burnt to the ground. Although it is hard to specify how Cardenio’s original text was lost, it is certainly fascinating to know how through the years numerous playwrights, actors, and directors have tried to reconstruct and recover this play.

In 2009, British academic Bernard Richards reconstructed Cardenio on stage. More recently in 2011, English director Gregory Doran crafted his own version of the play for production at the Royal Shakespeare Company’s Swan Theatre.

Musing about Cardenio in an interview with the Wall Street Journal in 2009, Canadian novelist Stephen Marche said “This work would have been a direct link between the founder of the modern novel and the greatest playwright of all time, a connection between the Spanish and British literary traditions at their sources, and a meeting of the grandest expressions of competing colonial powers…”

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What is Thomas Hardy best known for?

One of the most prolific novelists and poets of the late 19th and early 20th Centuries, English writer Thomas Hardy had an original style, and his works have remained relevant to this day. A highly diverse writer, Hardy wrote short stories, poems, novels and essays. Let’s read about the writer whose birth anniversary falls in June.

Imagine hanging from a cliff, suspended in the air, as you stare into the eyes of a trilobite embedded in the rock. This was the fate of Henry Knight, one of the protagonists of “A Pair of Blue Eyes”, which was published serially in a publication. And readers had to wait over a month to know if Knight had survived or not.

Sounds like a cliffhanger? Well, indeed it is. The plot device “cliffhanger” is believed to have its roots in English writer Thomas Hardy’s work “A Pair of Blue Eyes”. He was one of the most prolific novelists and poets of the late 19th and early 20th Centuries.

Hardy’s career spanned two eras, the Victorian and the Modern. Noted for his unique and original style, Hardy’s work was modern as well as ancient, remaining relevant to this day. A highly diverse writer, Hardy wrote short stories, poems, novels, and essays.

Early life

Born on June 2, in Higher Bockhampton, Dorset, England, Hardy was the eldest of the four children of a stonemason Thomas Hardy and his wife Jemima. Growing up, Hardy spent his childhood in a rural setting, in an isolated cottage near an open heathland (wide, open shrubland). This experience of being accustomed to rural life and oral culture left a profound impact on Hardy and became intrinsic to his later writing. In fact, it was his mother’s love of reading and books that got passed on to the son. At the age of eight, Hardy studied in a village school and then shifted schools.

He continued his primary school education till he was 16 and later apprenticed to a local architect. In 1862, before his 22nd birthday, he moved to London to become a draftsman.

Literary work

Hardy’s job as an architect affected his education. Although he wanted to study at a university and become an Anglican minister, the lack of funds and gradual loss of interest in religion made him abandon the notion and turn to writing.

His first novel manuscript was “The Poor Man and the Lady” (1867-68) and this got rejected by several publishers. But one publisher encouraged him and he changed his style of writing. His writing career picked up after publishing “Desperate Remedies” in 1871, and he was in a good place to leave the field of architecture.

That was when he landed a contract for writing 11 monthly instalments of the serial story “A Pair of Blue Eyes”, in the Cornhill Magazine. The next novel was “Far from the Madding Crowd” (1874). The next two novels, “The Return of the Native” (1878) and “The Mayor of Casterbridge” (1886), helped establish him as a writer.

Hardy himself classified his novels under three headings viz. “novels of character and environment”, “romances and fantasies” and “novels of ingenuity”. “Tess of the d’Urbervilles” (1891) is another famous novel of his.

While the book is appreciated now, it attracted negative reviews when published as it was seen to be at odds with the Victorian sensibilities. This is considered to be one of the reasons for Hardy abandoning fiction for writing poetry, plays and short stories.

Starting 1898 towards his death in 1928, Hardy published eight volumes of poetry. Noted mostly for his lyric poetry Hardy carved a space for himself in the poetic milieu. His poems are known for colloquial diction and intense imagery. He also published a huge poetic drama called ‘The Dynasts” between 1903 and 1908.

With ‘The Dynasts”, Hardy was so ahead of his time and created something that was neither a story, play or poem but rather a shooting script. He was broke free from the norm and invented a work of art that was in accordance with the conventions of the medium of cinema. “The Dynasts” was published in three parts over five years.

Post his death, on January 11, 1928, Hardy’s body was buried at Westminster Abbey. His heart (having been removed before cremation) was buried in Stinson, England, near the grave of his first wife and his ancestors.

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What are the sci-fi novels that successfully predicted the future and inspired the technology?

The fundamental principle or foundation of science fiction (sci-fi) as a genre is to imagine possible futures or alternative presents. The possibility of using fiction to anticipate or inspire the future is what makes reading or writing sci-fi an “essential training” to prepare oneself for what the future might hold. Lets us look at some of the sci-fi novels that successfully predicted the future and inspired the technology we are familiar with today.

The modern electric submarine

Dutch inventor Cornelius Drebbel was the inventor of the first submersible vessel that could remain underwater for a certain period. However, it could only be operated for short distances. Built in 1897 by American mechanical engineer and naval architect Simon Lake, the Argonaut was the first submarine that could perform extensive open-sea operations and salvage cargo from sunken vessels. In his autobiography titled Submarine, the inventor said that the French novelist and sci-fi pioneer Jules Verne’s ‘Twenty Thousand Leagues under’ the Sea was the inspiration behind the vessel.

“Jules Verne was in a sense the director-general of my life,” Lake’s autobiography, ‘Submarine’, quotes him as saying. “When I was not more than ten or eleven years old, I read his ‘Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea’, and my young imagination was fired.”

Google Earth and cryptocurrency

American author Neal Stephenson coined the term Metaverse in his 1992 sci-fi novel ‘Snow Crash’, to describe a three-dimensional virtual space or platform where humans, as programmable avatars, interacted with each other. This novel has been a source of inspiration for many innovators and inventors in various fields.

The virtual reality depiction of the Metaverse in ‘Snow Crash’ is often cited as a source of inspiration for Google Earth, which allows users to explore the world in 3D using satellite imagery.

Mimicking the real world, the economy of Stephenson’s Metaverse was based on a virtual currency called “Quatloos”. This concept is said to have inspired the development of various cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin.

Solar power

‘Sultana’s Dream’ is a science fiction novella written by Bengali author Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain in 1905, which presents a gender-reversed society where women are in charge and men are confined to the domestic sphere. An ecological invention that was inspired by the themes and ideas presented in this novel was solar-powered houses. In ‘Sultana’s Dream’, the city of Ladyland is powered entirely by solar energy. which is used to heat homes, cook food, and provide light. This novel was one of the earliest works that imagined using renewable energy to promote sustainable growth of the community, without harming the planet.

 It is one of the earliest examples of feminist sci-fi, a genre that explores the role of gender in society. The novella has inspired many works of feminist science fiction, including Octavia Butlers ‘Parable of the Sower’. This novella not only helped spark conversations about gender roles and women’s empowerment in South Asia and beyond, but also served as the inspiration behind noted Bangladeshi filmmaker Rubaiyat Hossain’s 2022 mentorship project called Sultana’s Dream, for aspiring female directors.

In ear-devices like wireless earbuds

The growing popularity of wireless Bluetooth earbuds in recent years has led many researchers to speculate that the idea for this portable audio device was inspired by a gadget called “seashells” in Ray Bradbury’s ‘Fahrenheit 451’. In the 1953 novel by the American writer, seashells are small electronic devices that fit in the ear and play recorded music or other audio content. They are described as being “no larger than a kernel of maize” and having a “thimble-sized” speaker that fits comfortably in the ears.

Although one might argue that Bradbury’s “seashells” are more like tiny radios, than wireless earphones, it does not change the fact that the author imagined them before the advent of the first stereo headphones (1958).

The Moon landing

The French novelist Jules Verne’s novel ‘From the Earth to the Moon’ published in 1865, is often cited as an early inspiration for the idea of space travel and space exploration. While it is not known for certain whether Verne’s work directly inspired the Moon landing, his vivid descriptions of a manned mission to the Moon in a projectile fired from a giant cannon helped to popularise the idea of space travel and may have indirectly contributed to the development of the technologies that eventually made the moon landing possible.

There are many uncanny similarities between the technical aspects of Verne’s narration and the actual lunar landing that was accomplished in 1969 through the Apollo 11 mission. For example, the dimensions of Verne’s (fictional) capsule and the one used for Apollo 11’s mission were startlingly close. Verne’s projectile was launched from Florida, where all the Apollo missions were launched. The book even gave a calculated estimate of the time it should take to reach the Moon as 97 hours and 13 minutes which was pretty close as the Apollo spacecraft took 103 hours and 30 minutes to reach the celestial body.

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