Hello. My name is Himadri, and I’m an argumentative old git.
Well, no, I’m not really – but it’s best to be self-deprecating before someone else deprecates you!
I started this blog in February 2010, shortly after I turned 50, not really knowing what direction it would take. I had a vague idea of writing about books, and sharing my views and opinions on literary matters. And maybe a few other matters as well. What I think I was hoping for was a sort of literary cyber-café, where like-minded people can drop in and discuss literature.
I can, I realise, be opinionated at times, but I do think it a mark of civilised discourse that one may disagree without being disagreeble. Even on the internet!
As for other matters, I am, by profession, an operational research analyst; I live near London with my wife and two teenage children; and what little spare time I have is taken up with reading, listening to music, and, lately, indulging my logorrhoea on this blog.
Please feel free to join in. I look forward to hearing from you.
Posted by Lisa on May 4, 2010 at 2:41 pm
Himadri,
I love your blog! Keep writing!
Posted by argumentativeoldgit on May 4, 2010 at 4:24 pm
Thanks Lisa – keep dropping in!
Posted by Kat on November 10, 2011 at 1:36 pm
I loved your comparative critique of Great Expectations and L’Education Sentimentale. You are a very gifted and insightful writer yourself.
Posted by argumentativeoldgit on November 10, 2011 at 11:00 pm
Thank you very much, Kat, that is very kind of you: that’s certainly the best notice I’ve had yet!
I love both Great Expectations and L’Education Sentimentale immensely, and just being able to think and to write about them is a privilege. That anyone actually enjoys reading what I write is a bonus!
Cheers, Himadri
Posted by Brian Joseph on February 18, 2012 at 9:39 pm
Hello Himadri – I just want to say I love your blog. You have a great style and I really like your reading choices. I have been reading though some of your older posts. I particularly like your commentary on the Shakespeare plays.
Posted by argumentativeoldgit on February 19, 2012 at 10:45 am
Hello Brian, thank you for your kind words, & welcome to this board.
This blog really started because, to commemorate my 50th year some time back, I decided to read through all the Shakespeare plays, in the order – as far as we may ascertain – in which they may have been written. And as I was oing so, I was making my own notes. Once I had finished my project, I thought it might be a good idea to polish those notes up a bit and put them up somewhere on the net. And since then, it has grown.
I am not sure which direction this blog will take. I’ve recently been finding it difficult to find the time to write the kind of post I want to write, so I may well slow down a bit. But it’s good, I think, to be able to communicate with like-minded literary enthusiasts!
All the best,
Himadri
Posted by letizia on August 19, 2012 at 1:40 pm
I wanted to let you know that I nominated you for The Reader Appreciation Award!
There’s no obligation to accept (I just wanted to tell my readers about your great blog) but if you want to pass it on just follow the what I did on my post or google the award.
http://readinginterrupted.com/2012/08/19/reader-appreciation/
Posted by argumentativeoldgit on August 22, 2012 at 9:52 pm
Hello Letizia, thank you very much for the nomination: what a lovely surprise! I haven’t clicked on your link yet, but I will do so now,
Posted by Delia (Postcards from Asia) on November 15, 2012 at 11:06 am
Hello Himadri,
Thanks for visiting my blog and for joining us for the “Dickens in December” event.
Posted by argumentativeoldgit on November 15, 2012 at 11:16 am
Hello Delia, thanks for setting this up. (And by the way, as you probably noticed, I had mistyped the url of this website when I had commented in your blog!)
Best wishes, Himadri
Posted by Delia (Postcards from Asia) on November 15, 2012 at 11:24 am
That’s not a problem, you were easy to find.
Posted by Nino Frewat on November 22, 2012 at 9:50 pm
I am greatly enjoying your blog! And your writingI can’t recall how I got here, I guess the ghost stories post, but I’m glad I did. I also believe that it’s the irrational fear that gets you to enjoy a ghost story, in the appropriate ambiance as well. The New Yorker had an article about MR James: http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/books/2012/02/13/120213crbo_books_lane
Best of luck,
Posted by argumentativeoldgit on November 22, 2012 at 10:23 pm
Hello Nino, and thank you very much for your kind words. Like most bloggers, I guess, I write pretty much for myself, and the very thought that it is read & enjoyed by others I find quite thrilling.
I’ll certainly have a look through your blog, and also at the link on M. R. James.
Best wishes, Himadri
Posted by Roberta Rood on March 11, 2013 at 1:50 am
Hi, Himadri. I greatly admire the breadth and depth of your intellect – and your sense of humor as well! I think you’ll be interested in the post I just completed:
http://robertarood.wordpress.com/2013/03/11/what-do-parsifal-and-the-turn-of-the-screw-have-in-common/
Thanks for your wonderful blog, and best wishes.
Posted by argumentativeoldgit on March 12, 2013 at 10:21 am
Hello Roberta, and thank you for your kind words, although I’m afraid my intellect – what little is left of it after so many years – isn’t much to boast about!
I have been a bit tied up yesterday (hence the lateness of this response) but I did manage to have a quick read of your post on Parsifal and The Turn of the Screw – two works which, I must admit I had never considered together. I do wonder, though, whether Edmund Wilson was entirely justified in thinking sex as a “blind spot” of James’: could it not, I wonder, be argued that it was a subject that James felt had to be addressed obliquely, as a direct approach robs the subject of its many nuances? But whatever the case, underneath James’ gentility, which may often strike the reader as merely precious, there lurk quite shocking levels of sordidness!
I’ll look through your blog at greater leisure over the next few days.
Best wishes, Himadri
Posted by nina luz on March 29, 2013 at 10:32 am
Hi Himadri,
I nominated your blog for an award (at The Word Weaver, aweaverofwords.wordpress.com), as a thank you and a token of my appreciation for your work. It’s all in good fun and I hope you decide to accept it. Best wishes, Nina.
Posted by argumentativeoldgit on March 29, 2013 at 12:48 pm
Hello Nina, thank you very much for your kind words. I do love writing on this blog, although there are certain times (like now) when other more pressing demands on my time means I have little to spare or this. But hopefully, I should be back on track after Easter!
It is, of course, lovely to be nominated for awards, and I’m vain enough to feel flattered by it! So of course I’d be happy to accept. But that there are people out there happy to read my ramblings continues both to delight and to surprise me in equal measure!
All the best,
Himadri
Posted by Roberta Rood on March 29, 2013 at 3:56 pm
Congratulations, Himadri! A well deserved accolade.
Roberta
Posted by Erika W. on May 12, 2013 at 7:56 pm
I was browsing around your site, having read the latest with much interest. But…with regards to your photograph, am I perverse? It looks as if you are examining a very small mouse found in your dinner–I can even see its tail…
Sorry… Erika W.
Posted by argumentativeoldgit on May 13, 2013 at 8:29 am
Now that you mention it, it does look like a mouse’s tail falling into my wine glass, doesn’t it? Was I turning into Lennie from “Of Mice and Men”? I am a bit zoophobic in this respect, and really don’t like the idea even of touching small furry creatures…
I chose this picture because I thought it showed me in a suitably argumentative pose. I think what looks like the mouse’s tail is really the left cuff of my jacket refracted through the glass. But every time I see the picture now, I’ll be seeing it as a mouse’s tail!
Posted by Erika W. on May 13, 2013 at 8:37 am
How very nice of you to reply to my piece of silliness. You do look as if you are in the middle of an interesting conversation, or argument of course.
My very best wishes and please keep your entries coming.