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Time of India
22-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Time of India
Inside the Historic Homes of Famous Authors That Are Open to the Public
It is said that 'each house has a story to tell.' One can know a lot about another person by visiting their house. Today, we have curated a list for literature lovers. Your dreams will finally come true- you can visit some of the legendary authors' houses and get a glimpse of the life they lived and what shaped their stories. Let's get into it and know some interesting info on our famous writers: Jane Austen's House Museum This is a 17th century cottage located in Chawton, Hampshire, which was home to Jane Austen from 1809 to 1817. This is the place where she wrote her six major novels: Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, Persuasion, Mansfield Park, Emma, and Northanger Abbey. After her death, this house became apartments and a workman's club until 1949 but was then restored by the Jane Austen Society into a museum. Literature lovers get a glimpse of her daily life with the tiny writing table, her jewellery, and her manuscripts. Monk's House This house is located in East Sussex, England, and was originally a timber framed cottage, later purchased by Virginia Woolf in 1919. This was the place where Virginia wrote key works including Mrs Dalloway, a widely loved novel. The interior walls of the cottage display painted tiles and murals made by Vanessa Bell, her sister, and one bedroom has a tile inscribed 'VW from VB 1930.' by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Why Crypto CFDs May Suit Your Portfolio IC Markets Learn More Undo This is a must visit place for all literary geeks. Rabindranath Tagore's Ancestral Home This haveli is located in Kolkata, West Bengal, and was the ancestral home of the renowned writer Rabindranath Tagore. It has now been converted into a cultural museum where they showcase the Tagore family archives, artworks, personal belongings, and items reflecting rich Bengali culture. Visitors can also see the rooms and courtyards where Rabindranath Tagore wrote most of his famous poems and music, and drew inspiration for his reformist thought. Ghalib ki Haveli This haveli is located in Chandni Chowk, Old Delhi, and was the home of the 19th century Urdu‑Persian poet Mirza Ghalib. He lived and composed his poetry here, and after his death the building was greatly damaged but the Delhi government restored it in 2000. Today, if you visit it, you will find handwritten poems, portraits, a bust, and architectural designs of the 19th century. Shakespeare's Birthplace Everyone knows William Shakespeare—he was a playwright famous for works such as Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, and Othello, which continue to be reinterpreted today. His birthplace residence is located in Stratford‑upon‑Avon, England, and is a 16th century half-timbered house. Here you will find the Falcon Inn chair, considered Shakespeare's favourite, and exhibits displaying his books. Brontë Parsonage Museum This house was owned by Patrick Brontë and became home to Charlotte, Emily, and Anne Brontë in 1820. The Brontë Society converted this house into a museum, which now houses the world's largest collection of Brontë relics. Here one can see the dining room where the sisters wrote some of their most famous novels, Charlotte's bedroom, and Emily's study. Visitors can also look at the imaginative miniature books the Brontës made as children. R.K. Narayan's House Visitors can also visit the home of Rasipuram Krishnaswami Iyer Narayan in Mysuru, Karnataka. He spent many years writing in this two-story building—this is the place where he wrote Malgudi Days and his other famous works. In 2016, this home was converted into a museum, where one can see his manuscripts and personal items, giving readers a glimpse into his life.
Time Magazine
17-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Time Magazine
'Persuasion' by Jane Austen Can Teach You How to Grow Up
To make a forced and artificial division, we might say that there exist Jane Austen novels of youth and folly: Emma and Northanger Abbey. The novels of coming-of-age and responsibility: Sense and Sensibility, Mansfield Park, and Pride and Prejudice. And then there is Persuasion, a novel of adulthood. I call this division artificial because Austen's genius makes it so—one is perhaps tempted to say that the novels change when we return to them, finding new textures and insights that make them relevant to our lives at just that moment, but of course this is false. The novels do not change. We change, and as we grow, we become more sensitive to these novels, detecting layers of insight and relation for the first time that were always there. Yet, it does have a kind of logic, this idea that certain novels speak to us at different moments in our lives. When I was in my 20s, my favorite Jane Austen novel was Sense and Sensibility. I loved it for the way it made me laugh and made me think. I delighted in its comedy and the elegance of Austen's irony as she depicted Marianne's aesthetic snobbery and Elinor's exasperated affection for her mother and sisters. It was a bustling and charming novel of family shot through with Austen's typical attention to the importance of property. But something happened, and one day I woke up and found not that I loved Sense and Sensibility any less, but that I loved Persuasion most of all. Persuasion is the last novel that Austen completed in her lifetime. She wrote it in a phase of failing health and dwindling material security as her extended family's fortunes (never very robust) imploded in a failed financial venture. It is sometimes considered tacky or distasteful to think of art and commerce, or to think of how money might have shaped the lives and art of those artists who mean the most to us. It would be a very pretty picture indeed to imagine that money never once entered Austen's mind as she composed her novels. But that would require ignoring so much of her genius because in their way, all Austen's novels turn on questions of money, fortune, property, and prosperity—one finds in her characters' harmonious and happy endings a fusion of material and emotional fulfillment. Read More: In Exile, I Lost India But Gained a Home When I say that Persuasion is a novel of adulthood, you might think that I mean boring, or tedious, or lacking all the vivacity and spontaneity that animates Austen's other novels like Sense and Sensibility or Pride and Prejudice. I can understand how a person might be misled into thinking this. Some people are also likely to think that Mansfield Park is sanctimonious and high-handed, with a reputation for being an 'issue novel.' This is wrong, obviously. I might even say stupid. Because, for one thing, all Austen's novels are 'issue novels,' the issue being the evils of capitalism and private property. For another thing, Persuasion is as funny and wonderfully ironic as that most loved novel, Pride and Prejudice. The character of Sir Walter Elliot, for instance, is the target of much of the novel's irony and by extension its humor. One has the feeling that everyone in the room is deeply aware of his delusional vanity, but powerless to do anything about it, or, if not powerless, then uninterested or unwilling to change him. Watching Anne and the other rational characters deal with Sir Walter is sort of like watching a family deal with a cranky, somewhat addled elderly relation whose ways cannot be reformed and must simply be humored until they are out of earshot. This will of course remind you of Mrs. Bennet from Pride and Prejudice. This is not by mistake. In Austen, characters belonging to previous generations often come in for a great deal of ironic treatment precisely because their lives are an extension of the social rules and laws that Austen is criticizing. They are avatars, and victims, of the world order that she has taken in hand to examine. Part of the fun of Austen's novels is her affectionate skewering of that world order. The answering note to its prevailing ironic treatment of Sir Walter is of course the melancholy and hint of regret that suffuse much of the novel's tone. We have come to Anne Elliot eight years after she's failed what she now realizes was the great test of her life: she turned down Frederick Wentworth at the persuasion of her deceased mother's dearest friend, Lady Russell. This premise is significant because it sets Persuasion apart from the other novels, whose climaxes tend to involve a false or thwarted proposal, and culminate with a marriage or marriages. Anne Elliot has turned down not one but two marriage proposals. Her younger sister is married to the second man she rejected. Her elder sister was herself jilted by a cousin set to inherit the family estate. The mother is dead. The father is useless, and while they still have the property, their money is rapidly depleting. One sees the ghosts of other Austen novels, naturally, particularly Sense and Sensibility and Pride and Prejudice, but to me, the plot of Persuasion is significantly different because it is about someone facing her future while coming to grips with her past. This backward tension is what gives the novel its uniqueness among Austen's works. Indeed, Austen dedicates several of the opening chapters to laying out the whole sordid mess of Anne's predicament—both that of her family's financial ruin and also the matter of how she came to be persuaded to give up Wentworth in the first place. And what such a choice cost her. Persuasion is absolutely haunted by the past, to a degree greater than all Austen's novels. For all the humor and comedy of her efforts to convince the very image-conscious Sir Walter of the necessity to 'retrench' and her younger sister Mary's narcissistic terrorizing of her in-laws, there is an inescapable aura of someone moving through the after of her life. Anne is only 27, a crucial member of her family, and yet, she feels as though, having failed that test of Wentworth's proposal, her chance at happiness is gone and that all that remains for her to do is to negotiate the quiet unhappiness of her life. There is nothing left but to find a way to manage it all. That's really sad! Yet, the novel, like life, persists. Anne goes along, serving her family, playing music at the gatherings at Uppercross, where she is much loved by the Musgroves, the family into which her sister Mary married, being a companion to Lady Russell, and serving as a dispenser of practical and good advice. And one day, Wentworth returns, unexpectedly, and she must contend both with old feelings and a new understanding of what her actions did to his life, too. In Persuasion, we have a novel about what happens when you survive the event of your life and must go on living anyway. Who hasn't made a choice that we wish we could take back? Who hasn't had to face the cold, harsh light of the morning after and realize, with horrifying clarity, that we've made the wrong call? There is shockingly little literature about not just that moment but the life that follows. This is partly because regret tends to be hard to dramatize, at least in a way that is not boring or bad. Read More: Trump's Orwellian Erasure of Women But this is where Austen's genius comes in. Because Anne is never really allowed to wallow. She first has to solve the issue of Sir Walter's money problems, so she and Lady Russell convince him to rent out Kellynch-hall. Their letting of Kellynch is what brings Admiral and Mrs. Croft to Kellynch, which naturally leads to Mrs. Croft inviting her brother, Frederick Wentworth, into the neighborhood. Because Kellynch is so near to Uppercross, and because of the relations between the Musgroves and the Elliots, the Crofts are invited to Uppercross, where Anne is staying with her sister Mary. And in this way, this series of small acts and consequences, Anne and Wentworth are brought together. I have a somewhat controversial opinion that is perhaps not controversial at all. I think that Anne and Wentworth would have made a happy though unremarkable couple if they had stayed engaged all those years ago. Or perhaps, they might have even been unhappy after a time. The Wentworth we encounter at the start of the novel would not have, I believe, been capable of such a revelation as we find at the end of the novel. Indeed, that is the whole point. That the book chronicles the journey each must take toward becoming the sort of person they needed to be in order to find their way back to each other. Anne needed to grow beyond being a dutiful, persuadable young woman. Wentworth needed to find some humility to temper his natural prideful streak. The people they are at the end of the book did not exist eight years previous. They were different people. And now we find two people who are gentler, kinder, more forthright with each other. They are precisely and exactly where they need to be. Adapted from the Introduction by Brandon Taylor to PERSUASION by Jane Austin out in trade paperback on July 21 from Vintage Books, an imprint of the Knopf Doubleday Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. Copyright © 2025 by Brandon Taylor. All rights reserved.
Scoop
17-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Scoop
Unleashing Aotearoa's Monster: NZ Opera's Groundbreaking Premiere Of The Monster In The Maze
New Zealand Opera is proud to announce details around the highly anticipated Australasian premiere of the powerful community opera, The Monster in the Maze. Written by acclaimed British composer Jonathan Dove (Mansfield Park, Flight, Marx in London) with libretto by Alasdair Middleton, The Monster in the Maze is a unique community opera that earned a British Composer Award in 2016. Celebrated as one of the most successful contemporary operas of its kind globally, it was originally commissioned by prestigious institutions the Berlin Philharmonic, the London Symphony Orchestra, and the Festival d'Art Lyrique d'Aix-en-Provence. Since its premiere in 2015, the opera has garnered widespread acclaim and has been performed to great success around the world, in multiple languages. Led by the creative powerhouse duo of Director Anapela Polata'ivao ONZM (Tīnā, Red White and Brass, Wild Dogs Under My Skirt) and Creative Producer Stacey Leilua (The Savage Coloniser Show, Wild Dogs Under My Skirt, Young Rock), NZ Opera's The Monster in the Maze will be performed in English across Aotearoa New Zealand this September, offering a profound exploration of identity and cultural resonance. The production brings together professional singers, the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra, New Zealand Symphony Orchestra and the Auckland Philharmonia and the Freemasons Foundation NZ Opera Chorus with large numbers of amateur, youth, and children's choirs and musicians, in a groundbreaking operatic collaboration with communities in each location. The production marks the significant NZ Opera directorial debut for Anapela Polata'ivao. Reflecting on what drew her to The Monster in the Maze she explains: 'What attracted me was the community aspect. This is an incredible opportunity for our local choirs and community members to participate in a high-level, professional performance. This collaborative involvement not only enriches the storytelling but also fosters a sense of connection to the production's cultural themes and to each other, making it an inclusive and empowering experience for all participants and audiences.' The Monster in the Maze opera reimagines the ancient Greek myth of Theseus and the Minotaur, exploring themes such as resistance, justice, and the power of collectivism in a dramatic, Hunger Games-style, one-hour opera. The narrative follows the aftermath of King Minos's victory over the Athenians, as he demands their youth as tribute to be fed to the terrifying Minotaur beast at the heart of his maze. Despite this, the tyrannical king soon discovers these youth are far from passive. Crucially, this new production pays homage to the rich Pasifika heritage that profoundly shapes New Zealand's cultural tapestry, highlighting themes of displacement and resilience. The Athenian youth's journey from a warmer homeland to the cold, unforgiving land of Crete powerfully echoes the migration experiences of many Pacific peoples. In this Aotearoa-specific interpretation, Athens symbolises the warmth and familiarity of the islands, while Crete metaphorically becomes contemporary urban New Zealand, embodying the challenges and opportunities of arriving in a new land. An exceptional, all-New Zealand cast star in the principal roles. Acclaimed UK-based mezzo-soprano Sarah Castle (Andrea Chénier, Semele, La Cenerentola) brings her powerful presence to the role of Mother. Popular baritone and 2018 Lexus Song Quest winner Joel Amosa (La Traviata, Mansfield Park, Rigoletto) steps into the role of maze architect Daedalus. Rising operatic talent Ipu Laga'aia, recently named NZ Opera Freemasons Foundation Company Artist for 2025, makes his professional operatic role debut as the hero Theseus. Completing the principal cast, versatile entertainer and actor Maaka Pohatu (Ngai Tāmanihiri, Tūwharetoa), known for The Modern Māori Quartet and screen roles in Happiness, Far North, and Wellington Paranormal, makes his NZ Opera debut as the vindictive King Minos. Joining Anapela Polata'ivao and Stacey Leilua in the creative team, conductor Brad Cohen leads the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra in Ōtautahi, Christchurch, and Brent Stewart conducts the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra and the Auckland Philharmonia in Te Whanganui-a-Tara, Wellington and Tāmaki Makaurau, Auckland respectively. The Freemasons Foundation NZ Opera Chorus, child, youth and adult community performers join the production in each city. A highly innovative set, costume, and lighting design by Filament Eleven 11 (Rachel Marlow and Brad Gledhill) vividly transforms the worlds of Athens and Crete into a compelling contemporary setting. The design skillfully weaves local narratives into the production elements, showcasing Aotearoa's unique identity and its ongoing dialogue between traditional heritage and contemporary realities. The Monster in the Maze begins its national tour in Christchurch at the start of September, before travelling to Wellington and Auckland for strictly limited seasons.
Scoop
17-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Scoop
Unleashing Aotearoa's Monster: NZ Opera's Groundbreaking Premiere Of The Monster In The Maze
New Zealand Opera is proud to announce details around the highly anticipated Australasian premiere of the powerful community opera, The Monster in the Maze. Written by acclaimed British composer Jonathan Dove (Mansfield Park, Flight, Marx in London) with libretto by Alasdair Middleton, The Monster in the Maze is a unique community opera that earned a British Composer Award in 2016. Celebrated as one of the most successful contemporary operas of its kind globally, it was originally commissioned by prestigious institutions the Berlin Philharmonic, the London Symphony Orchestra, and the Festival d'Art Lyrique d'Aix-en-Provence. Since its premiere in 2015, the opera has garnered widespread acclaim and has been performed to great success around the world, in multiple languages. Led by the creative powerhouse duo of Director Anapela Polata'ivao ONZM (Tīnā, Red White and Brass, Wild Dogs Under My Skirt) and Creative Producer Stacey Leilua (The Savage Coloniser Show, Wild Dogs Under My Skirt, Young Rock), NZ Opera's The Monster in the Maze will be performed in English across Aotearoa New Zealand this September, offering a profound exploration of identity and cultural resonance. The production brings together professional singers, the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra, New Zealand Symphony Orchestra and the Auckland Philharmonia and the Freemasons Foundation NZ Opera Chorus with large numbers of amateur, youth, and children's choirs and musicians, in a groundbreaking operatic collaboration with communities in each location. The production marks the significant NZ Opera directorial debut for Anapela Polata'ivao. Reflecting on what drew her to The Monster in the Maze she explains: 'What attracted me was the community aspect. This is an incredible opportunity for our local choirs and community members to participate in a high-level, professional performance. This collaborative involvement not only enriches the storytelling but also fosters a sense of connection to the production's cultural themes and to each other, making it an inclusive and empowering experience for all participants and audiences.' The Monster in the Maze opera reimagines the ancient Greek myth of Theseus and the Minotaur, exploring themes such as resistance, justice, and the power of collectivism in a dramatic, Hunger Games-style, one-hour opera. The narrative follows the aftermath of King Minos's victory over the Athenians, as he demands their youth as tribute to be fed to the terrifying Minotaur beast at the heart of his maze. Despite this, the tyrannical king soon discovers these youth are far from passive. Crucially, this new production pays homage to the rich Pasifika heritage that profoundly shapes New Zealand's cultural tapestry, highlighting themes of displacement and resilience. The Athenian youth's journey from a warmer homeland to the cold, unforgiving land of Crete powerfully echoes the migration experiences of many Pacific peoples. In this Aotearoa-specific interpretation, Athens symbolises the warmth and familiarity of the islands, while Crete metaphorically becomes contemporary urban New Zealand, embodying the challenges and opportunities of arriving in a new land. An exceptional, all-New Zealand cast star in the principal roles. Acclaimed UK-based mezzo-soprano Sarah Castle (Andrea Chénier, Semele, La Cenerentola) brings her powerful presence to the role of Mother. Popular baritone and 2018 Lexus Song Quest winner Joel Amosa (La Traviata, Mansfield Park, Rigoletto) steps into the role of maze architect Daedalus. Rising operatic talent Ipu Laga'aia, recently named NZ Opera Freemasons Foundation Company Artist for 2025, makes his professional operatic role debut as the hero Theseus. Completing the principal cast, versatile entertainer and actor Maaka Pohatu (Ngai Tāmanihiri, Tūwharetoa), known for The Modern Māori Quartet and screen roles in Happiness, Far North, and Wellington Paranormal, makes his NZ Opera debut as the vindictive King Minos. Joining Anapela Polata'ivao and Stacey Leilua in the creative team, conductor Brad Cohen leads the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra in Ōtautahi, Christchurch, and Brent Stewart conducts the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra and the Auckland Philharmonia in Te Whanganui-a-Tara, Wellington and Tāmaki Makaurau, Auckland respectively. The Freemasons Foundation NZ Opera Chorus, child, youth and adult community performers join the production in each city. A highly innovative set, costume, and lighting design by Filament Eleven 11 (Rachel Marlow and Brad Gledhill) vividly transforms the worlds of Athens and Crete into a compelling contemporary setting. The design skillfully weaves local narratives into the production elements, showcasing Aotearoa's unique identity and its ongoing dialogue between traditional heritage and contemporary realities. The Monster in the Maze begins its national tour in Christchurch at the start of September, before travelling to Wellington and Auckland for strictly limited seasons.
Scroll.in
02-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Scroll.in
For Jane Austen and her heroines, walking was more than a pastime – it was a form of resistance
In Pride and Prejudice (1813), when heroine Elizabeth Bennet arrives at Netherfield Park with 'her petticoat six inches deep in mud', she walks not only through the fields of Hertfordshire but into one of literature's most memorable images of women's independence. Her decision to walk alone, 'above her ankles in dirt', is met with horror. 'What could she mean by it?' sneers Miss Bingley. 'It seems to me to show an abominable sort of conceited independence.' And yet, in that walk – unaccompanied, unfashionable, unbothered – Elizabeth reveals more about her spirit and autonomy than any parlour conversation could. Walking heroines For Austen's heroines, independence – however 'abominable' – often begins on foot. Elizabeth may be the most iconic of Austen's pedestrians, but she is far from alone. Across Austen's novels, women are constantly in motion: walking through country lanes, walled gardens, shrubberies, city streets and seaside resorts. These are not idle excursions. They are socially legible acts, shaped by class, decorum, and gender – yet often quietly resistant to them. Fanny Price, the often underestimated heroine of Mansfield Park (1814), is typically seen as timid and passive. Yet beneath her reserved exterior lies a quiet but determined spirit. 'She takes her own independent walk whenever she can', remarks Mrs Norris disapprovingly. 'She certainly has a little spirit of secrecy, and independence, and nonsense about her.' Austen's choice of 'nonsense' here is revealing: Fanny's desire for solitude and self-direction is not revolutionary, but it is gently subversive. In a world offering women little room for self-assertion, her steps become acts of resistance. When Jane Fairfax, constrained by class and circumstance in Emma (1815), declines a carriage ride, she asserts: 'I would rather walk … quick walking will refresh me.' It's a seemingly modest decision, but one layered with significance. To walk is to control your own movement, to maintain autonomy and resist the genteel suffocation of being constantly observed or helped. In Persuasion (1817), Anne Elliot's story shows walking as a path to renewal. Reserved and long burdened by regret, Anne finds restoration in the coastal air of Lyme Regis. As she walks along the Cobb, Austen notes that 'she was looking remarkably well … having the bloom and freshness of youth restored by the fine wind … and by the animation of eye which it had also produced'. Her emotional reawakening is framed as a physical one. Walking becomes not only therapeutic but transformative – a way back to herself. Not all of Austen's walks are reflective or restorative. Some are decidedly social. Lydia and Kitty Bennet's frequent walks to Meryton in Pride and Prejudice, for example, are driven as much by shopping as by the hope of romantic encounters. Austen notes the 'most convenient distance' of the village, where 'their eyes were immediately wandering up in the street in quest of the officers'. These girls were more interested in uniforms than in bonnets. Yet even this behaviour hints at something subtler. For young, unmarried women, shopping and social errands were among the few socially sanctioned reasons to move independently through public space. These excursions offered moments of visibility, mobility, and the possibility of courtship – however frivolously pursued. Catherine Morland of Northanger Abbey (1817), a devoted reader of gothic fiction, fuses her walks with imagination. As she strolls along the Avon River with the Tilneys, she muses: 'It always puts me in mind of the country that Emily and her father travelled through in The Mysteries of Udolpho.' Walking becomes an act of imaginative projection, where the boundaries between fiction and reality blur in the mind of a heroine learning to navigate both the world and herself. Jane Austen the walker Austen's fiction draws much of its vitality from her own experiences. She was, by her own admission, a 'desperate walker', rarely deterred by weather, terrain or propriety. Her letters, written from Bath, Steventon, Chawton and elsewhere, capture the physicality and pleasure of walking in vivid, often playful detail. These glimpses into her daily life reveal not only her attachment to movement but also the quiet autonomy it afforded her. In 1805, Austen writes from Bath: 'Yesterday was a busy day with me, or at least with my feet and my stockings; I was walking almost all day long.' Several years later, in 1813, she reports with unmistakable relief: 'I walked to Alton, and dirt excepted, found it delightful … before I set out we were visited by several callers, all of whom my mother was glad to see, and I very glad to escape.' Perhaps most revealing is an earlier letter from December 1798, in which Austen describes a rare solitary excursion: 'I enjoyed the hard black frosts of last week very much, & one day while they lasted walked to Deane by myself. I do not know that I ever did such a thing in my life before.' The comment registers the novelty and boldness of a woman walking alone. In an age where walking is once again praised for its physical and mental benefits, Austen's fiction reminds us that these virtues are not new. Her characters have been walking for centuries – through mud, across class boundaries and against expectation. They walk in pursuit of clarity, connection, escape and selfhood. Their steps – measured or impulsive, solitary or social – mark turning points in their lives. And in a world designed to keep them stationary, their walking remains a radical act.
