A carrot is a carrot

A rose is a rose is a rose, wrote Gertrude Stein and became famous for having done so. If this circular sentence completes its sense with a rose being declared a rose thrice, then the carrot comes only two times in the title of Zia Mohyeddin’s delightful collection of essays, subtitled “Memories and Reflections.” The carrot comes from Chekhov and not Stein. In the essay after which the book is named, Mohyeddin says that “Life today is a carrot,” and then explains this as a reference, if not a tribute, to the Russian master: