OFF THE SHELF
Lurid and historical, with potential for polemic, this story is set in Calcutta of the 1870s. A serial killer on the prowl in the by-lanes of Sonagachi, Calcutta’s famed pleasure district. As corpses of sex-workers start turning up at ponds and in alleyways, choked to death and stripped of their ornaments, fear grips the city. Trinoyoni is a sensuous seductress with a silver tongue and a love for all things shiny. But behind those eager eyes lurks savagery. Tucked within the volumes of Darogar Daptar (1892-1903) is the story of Troilokya Tarini Devi. Painstakingly written by Priyonath Mukhopadhyay, who was the investigating officer in the case, Darogar Daptar No. 78 follows the journey of Troilokya Tarini Devi, referred to in British court documents as “Troylucko Raur”, or Troilokya the prostitute. This fiction is based on her ‘true story’. Seven years before Jack the Ripper began his operations, Troilokya was India’s first serial killer.
This book about miniature painting at the Bundelkhand royal courts of Orchha, Datia and Panna offers a new insight into the origin and source of creation of these exquisite paintings, and seeks to dispel earlier misconceptions about their provenance. The miniature school of Bundelkhand that first developed at Orchha was the earliest and most Indian of all the Rajput schools, and at the time of its founding the only one to practice a purely indigenous style of painting, “untainted” by the naturalism of imperial Mughal painting. The author, Konrad Seitz’s interpretations and stylistic analyses of over 240 paintings from his collection, many of them published here for the first time, shed light on the school’s development from the late sixteenth century to the early days of British rule.
The book also introduces readers to the conceptual world of Rajput miniature painting and the rasa aesthetic that anticipates the modern reception aesthetic.
In his new essay collection, his first since winning the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2016, the iconic singer Bob Dylan breaks down 66 classic tunes, offering unique commentary in his unmistakable lyrical prose, focussing on songs by other artistes, spanning from Stephen Foster to Elvis Costello, and in between ranging from Hank Williams to Nina Simone. He analyzes what he calls the trap of easy rhymes, breaks down how the addition of a single syllable can diminish a song, and even explains how bluegrass relates to heavy metal. These essays are mysterious and mercurial, poignant and profound, and often laugh-outloud funny. And while they are ostensibly about music, they are really meditations and reflections on the human condition. Running throughout the book are nearly 150 carefully curated photos as well as a series of dream-like riffs that, taken together, resemble an epic poem and add to the work’s transcendence.