WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE’S love life, the hundred deceptions of Mao Tse Tung, the Big Bang that created the Universe and the full-blooded charm of folktales are just samplings from the bewildering array of themes that will be thrashed out at the three-day Hay Festival beginning at the Kanakakunnu Palace here on Thursday.
The feisty feminist and scholar, Ms Germaine Greer, who rescued Shakespeare’s wife Ann Hathaway from obscurity, will dwell on the bard’s love life and how it is reflected in his works. Given Ms Greer’s predilection to travel “where no man has gone before” her session may prove to be eye-opening.
Ms Jung Chang, who penned the widely popular Wild Swans’ will talk on her latest biography of Mao Tse Tung, in which she has painted a dark portrait of the revered “chairman” presenting him as a power-obsessed man with very little compassion for the oppressed.
If that is not iconoclastic enough, science writer Simon Singh will enlighten audiences on how big brains like Einstein and Fred Hoyle erred on how the Universe began and how the once derided “Big Bang” theory gained credibility. Those who have a yen for things ideological can listen to Ms Nayantara Sehgal dissecting the word “political” (a session sponsored by Deccan Chronicle) while those who like their Grimm stories unadulterated can listen to renowned storyteller Cat Weatherhill giving flesh and blood to fairy tales. The poetry gala will start off with poets from different languages reme-mbering Kamala Surayya on Thursday evening in another session supported by this newspaper.
From eroticism of sonnets to energy management and culture to vulture, the Hay Festival seems to have something for everyone.
“You can rub shoulders with the greatest writers of the world,” says Dr Shashi Tharoor, who was instrumental in bringing the festival to the state capital. “Get ready to be bathed in literary culture for three days.”