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From The Editor Welcome to the Taj December 2006! The aim of Taj is to promote Art and Poetry for Peace & Brotherhood across diverse nations. This issue contains an extensive selection of most notable artwork, poems and short stories created by artists from all over the world. The artists whose works appear in Taj are selected because of their innovative style, and their faith in limitless freedom of expression devoid of superfluous ornamentation, empty verbiage and hollow generalities. The most important thing for a creative artist is to posses some inward Platonic reality to face the dark unspirituality and 'homelessness' of the postmodern ethos. The most obvious and inescapable aspect of the poems, artwork and short stories included in this issue is to convey the idea that there are as diverse ways of creative expression as there are individualities. Terrorist attack on July 11, 06 by seven bombs on the train network in Mumbai, India killed more than 170 people and injured 500. These trains carry about six million commuters daily. It reminded me of Hardy's famous statement: "Happiness is but the occasional episode in a general drama of pain" (The Mayor of Casterbridge). Hardy advises us in his another novel: "Our plan should be to move onward through good and evil-to avoid morbid sorrow even though we see ugliness in the world; to do good cheerfully, following Spinoza, battle with our evil star and follow out our ideals" (Tess of the D'Urbervilles). It was a matter of great joy to me when Joseph Aprile along with his wife, a resident of Seattle, Washington, visited my residence, Allahabad on May 22, 06. We discussed a lot of things like modernism, postmodernism, the problem of selling poetry and art, contrast between works of art and real life etc. Aprile is an extraordinary creative artist. His poems, novel Awakening from a Distant Dream and short stories anthology At the Fringes of Experience 'explore the many facets of the human experience'. Hearty congratulations to Orhan Pamuk (b. 1952) for winning Noble Prize 2006, the first Turkish author to achieve this honour. His novels Yeni Hayat (1995) and My Name Is Red have been translated into more than forty languages. My Name Is Red is 'a fantasy and a philosophical puzzle'. As many of you will know, I have been trying my best on the enrichment of Taj, by selecting only those writings, which add to credibility and prestige of the journal. It is a pleasure to acknowledge, with a very deep sense of gratitude, the help, cooperation, generous support and kindness of all the authors and artists. SANTOSH KUMAR |
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ARTWORKS LITERARY CRITICISM GEMS OF THOUGHT The Synoptic Gospels of Albert Russo, A Review of The Crowded World of Solitude, Volume Two; The Collected Poems, Reviewed by David Alexander Helicon by Santosh Kumar, Cyberwit.net, India 2006 pp. 62 $9 Paperback, ISBN: 81-901366-8-2 Reviewed by Janet K. Brennan Different Worlds - A Virtual Journey ed. Santosh Kumar, Cyberwit.net, India 2006, $25 Paperback & Hardback, ISBN: 81-8253-064-4 (pp: 168), Reviewed by Janet K. Brennan AUTHOR INDEX |
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