A last farewell, Why Writer’s Block is Your Secret Weapon, Poetic Gaze, Nabokov, Philip Roth on Novel's demise,

A last farewell - Abdel-Moneim Said remembers Mohamed El-Sayed Said

DISPATCHES FROM AMERICA : Failed war president or prince of peace? - Should he take the peace-maker route, United States President Barack Obama stands a chance of success. History suggests that the path of war will be a surefire loser. The past half-century makes clear what the US military can achieve - destruction and mayhem; and what it has failed to do in Korea, Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan - deliver a genuine and lasting victory. - Nick Turse

India's nuclear drive sparks safety fears - Since the civilian nuclear deal last year with the United States ended India's decades of isolation from the international atomic market, New Delhi has begun a vast drive to significantly increase its use of nuclear energy. The promise of clean and affordable power has strong government backing, but fears remain over the nation's patchy nuclear safety record. - Siddharth Srivastava

Doctor's mistakes to blame for Keats's agonising end, says new biography - By Alison Flood - Dr James Clark's series of misdiagnoses left poet starving and in agony, argues study of Joseph Severn. The agonies of John Keats's final months in Rome were partly the result of his doctor's misdiagnoses, according to a new biography. When the poet arrived in Rome from London in November of 1820, Dr James Clark initially ruled that "mental exertions and application" were "the sources of his complaints" which seemed chiefly "situated in his Stomach". "Though Clark had 'some suspicion of disease of the heart and it may be of the lungs', he confidently predicted that 'if I can put his mind at ease I think he'll do well'," writes Sue Brown in her biography of Joseph Severn, the friend who nursed Keats until his death in a small room by the Spanish Steps in Rome.

The final twist in Nabokov's untold story By Robert McCrum - Vladimir Nabokov was one of the most influential writers of the 20th century. Now, 30 years after his death, his last novel is finally to be published. But should it be? On the eve of his death, fearing it was imperfect, he instructed his wife to destroy the manuscript, sparking a fierce controversy that embroiled family, friends and the literary establishment, writes Robert McCrum

Philip Roth predicts novel will be minority cult within 25 years By Alison Flood - 'The book can't compete with the screen,' says veteran American author as his latest novel is published. Philip Roth's late run of productivity has long been a source of wonder in the literary world, with his latest novel coming out this week less than a year after the last, and another already complete. But the 76-year-old's own energy is not, according to him at any rate, any reflection of vibrant life in fiction itself. Roth has long been pessimistic about the survival of the novel in a gaudy, short-attention-span culture, but his latest prophesy is one of his bleakest yet, predicting that the form will dwindle to a "cultic" minority enthusiasm within 25 years.

The poetic gaze - Tony Harrison, winner of the PEN/Pinter prize, on his literary heroes
Statues are one of the ways I try to test the traditions of European culture against the most modern destructive forces. I often make a point of seeking them out and have used them as mouthpieces in my film poetry, as with Heinrich Heine in The Gaze of the Gorgon.

Why Writer’s Block is Your Secret Weapon By Melissa Karnaze on Productivity
When screenwriter John August wrote that only non-writers get writer's block, some readers whined (and personally attacked him). "But getting blocked does happen to real writers!" they cried. They cried because they wanted to be victims, instead of responsible for their writing blocks. They whined because it was easier and less scary than facing the facts. But when your income depends on your ability to write, whining won't get you anywhere. It will distract you from the golden opportunity that writer's block always offers: greater clarity and confidence. When you work it right, writer's block is your secret weapon to becoming a better and more resilient writer. And when your ability to write is what pays the bills, that's gold.

Chomsky Receives Highest Pentagon Honor By Sherwood Ross - The Pentagon has paid anti-war activist Noam Chomsky the highest honor any totalitarian entity can bestow upon an author: theyve banned his book Interventions at Guantanamo Bay prison

Who Killed Karkare? The Real Face Of Terrorism In India - By M Zeyaul Haque - A new book curiously titled Who Killed Karkare? says a nationwide network of Hindutva terror that has its tentacles spread up to Nepal and Israel is out to destroy the India most Indians have known for ages and to remould it into some kind of Afghanistan under the Taliban