James Metcalf on the fictionality of the latest archaeological page-turners
Stephen Puddicombe looks at the unusual appeal of Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot
Ciaran Rafferty investigates the science of book classification
Gandhi gay? Not if Gujarat has anything to say
The state of Gujarat in Western India has banned the latest book by Joseph Lelyveld after claims that it hints that Mahatma Gandi was either gay or bisexual. The Pulitzer Prize winner’s book, Great Soul: Mahatma Gandhi and His Struggle With India deals with the life of India’s father of independence and has been banned by unanimous vote by Gujurat’s state assembly. The controversy started after several reviews of the book in the UK and America in which Gandhi’s relationship with a German man called Hermann Kallenbach was emphasised and hinted at to be more than platonic. Homosexuality has only been legal in India since 2009 and although the book has not even yet been released in India, the stigma is so great that the state decided to ban it. Lelyved has denied any insinuations of homosexuality, but this didn’t stop the Daily Mail publishing an article with the headline "Gandhi 'left his wife to live with a male lover' new book claims".
Lovey dovey Keats
A love letter written by the poet John Keats has been sold for £96,000 at an auction. Written to his fiancée Frances Brawne, the letter has a tragic edge as although the pair were deeply in love, Keats suffered from tuberculosis, which was so contagious that it meant they were never able to have sex. The letter was composed in 1820 at his house in Hampstead, North London and has been bought by the City of London Corporation who own the house as a museum. The letter will go on permanent display there for visitors to see.
Man Booker Prize shortlist announced
13 authors have been chosen to make the shortlist for the Man Booker International Prize, one of the most respected and coveted literary awards. The award is unusual in the fact that it looks at an author’s entire body of work rather than just one book. With authors all over the world competing, it has been described as “the Olympics of literature” and this year’s competition looks no less diverse. Authors include Philip Roth, Philip Pullman, Anne Tyler, John le Carré, Su Tong, Rohinton Mistry and James Kelman. The winner will net a £60,000 prize as well as the honour of achieving one of literature’s highest awards. The winner will be announced on 18th May at the Sydney Writer’s Festival.
Joan Miró to be subject of new Tate exhibition
The Spanish expressionist painter Joan Miró is to be honoured in an exhibition at the Tate Modern in London. The exhibition will be the first major UK exhibition to stage his work in almost 50 years and will not feature all of his works but nearly 150 of them. Based in Barcelona, his graffiti style paintings bursting with expression. One of his most well-known works is a collaboration with Joseph Llorens i Artigas in 1970, a giant ceramic mural in terminal 2 of Barcelona airport. Joan Miró: The Ladder of Escape will be at the Tate Modern 14th April – 11th September.
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