Uninventing the myth of Shakespeare: seeing the film of Maggie O’Farrell’s ‘Hamnet’.

January 9, 2026

Uninventing the myth of Shakespeare: seeing the film of Maggie O’Farrell’s Hamnet. There is a real issue of ontology involved in this question – for it raises the question not only of what to choose but what, being ‘uninvented’ that something might be, if indeed it could be anything at all, for to uninvent ‘it’ … More Uninventing the myth of Shakespeare: seeing the film of Maggie O’Farrell’s ‘Hamnet’.

You mostly remember the road trip you didn’t take only because the ‘other one’ is an illusion, ‘knowing how way leads on to way!’

January 8, 2026

You mostly remember the road trip you didn’t take only because the ‘other one’ is an illusion, ‘knowing how way leads on to way!’ First, let’s read the poem by Robert Frost once again! It is a well-trod road trip – by us and so many more. Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,And sorry … More You mostly remember the road trip you didn’t take only because the ‘other one’ is an illusion, ‘knowing how way leads on to way!’

You can’t breathe? Let me sell you some ‘air’. You have no money. That means you have no ‘demand’ for our air supply effectively. Can I sell your relatives a funeral?

January 7, 2026

Our ideas of what might be sold at a cost that allows for profit to its investors, rather than just payment for the technicians that discover and refine it from sources, has been deeply influenced by water. Consider this blog post (full post linked here) which posits that some people already pay to breathe air, … More You can’t breathe? Let me sell you some ‘air’. You have no money. That means you have no ‘demand’ for our air supply effectively. Can I sell your relatives a funeral?

Despite the literary establishment, biography can be done differently. Reflections on James Campbell (1991) ‘Talking at the Gates: A Life of James Baldwin’.

January 6, 2026

The white literary establishment once considered itself to be colour-blind, dealing equally with all writing free of categories such as ‘Black writing’, as distinguished from ‘White writing’, neither of which this establishment considered valid categorisations of the written literary text. For a literary biographer however it may be possible to tell the story of black … More Despite the literary establishment, biography can be done differently. Reflections on James Campbell (1991) ‘Talking at the Gates: A Life of James Baldwin’.

‘He’d now the power he ever loved to show, / A feeling being subject to his blow.’ In 1810, a long time ago, a rhyming vicar, George Crabbe, could trace the origins of domestic abuse to the leeway given to men to ‘assert the man’ by the exercise of power and control. Why is it possible to see no end of this leeway in the future?

January 5, 2026

‘He’d now the power he ever loved to show, / A feeling being subject to his blow.’ In 1810, a long time ago, a rhyming vicar, could trace the origins of domestic abuse to the leeway given to men to ‘assert the man’ by the exercise of power and control. Why is it possible to … More ‘He’d now the power he ever loved to show, / A feeling being subject to his blow.’ In 1810, a long time ago, a rhyming vicar, George Crabbe, could trace the origins of domestic abuse to the leeway given to men to ‘assert the man’ by the exercise of power and control. Why is it possible to see no end of this leeway in the future?

They call it life – that item I did love, …

January 4, 2026

They call it life – that item I did love,Youth coloured it; age has made it blanche.Has life so lightly flown, some height aboveMy head, some dove alighted on a branchWhere olives bring it peace, but no return To me, its long absence soon urged I learn.”Life’s not an item’ lad”, my father’s ghostDid sing, … More They call it life – that item I did love, …

‘If it be now, ’tis not to come; if it be not to come, it will be now; if it be not now, yet it will come. The readiness is all.’ Hamlet defines the time to designate ‘playtime’.

January 2, 2026

An man ready to play It always amazes how often one can turn to Shakespeare’s Hamlet for assistance in interpreting a WordPress prompt question. Play is a word used as a verb and a related noun and is used so in this question, with the links well established between noun and verb for Hamlet too … More ‘If it be now, ’tis not to come; if it be not to come, it will be now; if it be not now, yet it will come. The readiness is all.’ Hamlet defines the time to designate ‘playtime’.

Why ‘having a mission’ matters in modernity! If it does?

January 1, 2026

The 1990s were a problematic period of our history, in which technocratic governance began to see the best one could hope for in an expression of group goals: The Blair ‘New Labour’ government’s lauding of the ‘principle’ (for such they thought it was being bereft of any other which they labelled usually as ‘Old Labour’ … More Why ‘having a mission’ matters in modernity! If it does?

‘A white-hair’d shadow roaming like a dream / The ever-silent spaces of the East, / …’: If it were as a shadow ….

December 30, 2025

For the full text of Tennyson’s Tithonus see: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45389/tithonus If it were as a shadow, I’d accept The gift of living a very long life: Though gifted only in a thought that crept In my ear as if escaped from the strife It sought to save me from: being ended Too soon, or too long … More ‘A white-hair’d shadow roaming like a dream / The ever-silent spaces of the East, / …’: If it were as a shadow ….

How do you do? How did you do? How do you do that differently?

December 29, 2025

There is a world of difference in many usages of the verb, ‘to do’, that all live depend on cultural assumptions. It is rapidly becoming archaic to use the term ‘How do you do?’, roughly meaning meaning ‘how are you?’, but possibly extrapolated to ‘in the doing that constitutes your life, how do you assess … More How do you do? How did you do? How do you do that differently?

Without relationship would there be a person?

December 28, 2025

It has always seemed obvious to me that we are wrong to think of the person as a single  and self-sufficient entity, rather than an assembly and network of relationships in which different perceptions of, and by it, over space and actions with consequences interact. Some organisms can exist alone, but they can not have … More Without relationship would there be a person?

You get to build your perfect space for reading and writing. What’s it like? I think that for me the only answer I could supply would be that I should build a space that breaks down the boundaries we build around us to define our interior, even between reader and writer. This blog uses as a case study Timothy O’Grady (2025) ‘Monaghan’.

December 27, 2025

You get to build your perfect space for reading and writing. What’s it like? I think that for me the only answer I could supply would be that I should build a space that breaks down the boundaries we build around us to define our interior. Talking about his inspiration in writing To Anthony Cummins … More You get to build your perfect space for reading and writing. What’s it like? I think that for me the only answer I could supply would be that I should build a space that breaks down the boundaries we build around us to define our interior, even between reader and writer. This blog uses as a case study Timothy O’Grady (2025) ‘Monaghan’.