I was reading T.S. Eliot’s The Family Reunion, which is, I have to admit, a tedious bore to read and which I only took up as an example of a play based on the idea of The Oresteia by Aeschylus. The basis of comparison is very loose. It takes up the Oresteia late in the … More Dining with Amy, Dowager Lady Monchensey on her birthday.
This blog contains all I have to say of the experience of David Hare’s ‘Grace Pervades’ playing at the Haymarket Theatre (seen by me on 9th July at 14.30) and all I have to say about the experience of Simon Stone’s ‘The Oresteia’ playing at the Bridge Theatre (seen by me on 8th July at … More This blog contains all I have to say of the experience of David Hare’s ‘Grace Pervades’ playing at the Haymarket Theatre (seen by me on 9th July at 14.30) and all I have to say about the experience of Simon Stone’s ‘The Oresteia’ playing at the Bridge Theatre (seen by me on 8th July at 19.00) at the moment at least with regard to the last named: for about the latter there will be more. The excuse it addresses is this one: “that since theatre is the basis of theatrical art, no drama in it could ever be anything more nor less than ‘theatrical'”.
What do we do to make our time in a major art gallery exhibition significant? In a recent blog (in full at this link) I started thinking about some mental and emotional linking themes that seem to me to relate two extremely different major art exhibitions that I needed, at I felt I needed, to … More Is it all in the detail? Finding some significance of one’s own in major art exhibitions
This blog uses Elizabeth Strout (2026) The Things We Never Say London, Viking / Penguin as a test case for a thesis based on the difficulty of erasing trends from history. In it, the narrator says that Artie Dam, thinks his despair at the ‘state of the world’ relates to the hopeless hope that a … More This blog uses Elizabeth Strout (2026) ‘The Things We Never Say’ as a test case for a thesis based on the difficulty of erasing trends from history. In it, the narrator says that Artie Dam, thinks his despair at the ‘state of the world’ relates to the hopeless hope that a dangerous right-wing demagogue does not win an American election fought(and won by the wrong person) in the background of the narrative yet influential within it. However: ‘because he had studied history. He was aware that in all human existence there had never been a time where people were not killing one another, and why he had not been affected by this as strongly throughout his life as he was these days he could not understand’. As he gets home and removes his sailing boots he suddenly understands that his despair had another more primary cause: ‘It was an accretion of loneliness; …’.
A habit, implies that splendid queer aesthetic philosopher, Walter Pater, must, by its very nature, sully the claim that it has improved your life. If so, could it be because a habit like a cloak enfolds and hides the body of healthy action, and lets it corrupt. A habit, implies that splendid queer philosopher, Walter … More A habit, implies that splendid queer aesthetic philosopher, Walter Pater, must, by its very nature, sully the claim that it has improved your life. If so, could it be because a habit like a cloak enfolds and hides the body of healthy action, and lets it corrupt.
Why has so much word-play gone into disguising the fact that human beings are more strictly knowable as human animals? Why has a binary distinction been created between the human animal and other animals that is heavily bounded by discourse, sometimes falsely called ‘discourse of reason’, since it is always a discourse stuffed with the … More Why do human animals think they are not animals!
What’s a book you think deserves a sequel? ‘…by these words be admonished: of making many books there is no end’ …. Is the wisdom of Ecclesiastes 12:12 that the more worthy the book the less do we need the writing of many books that are sequels of it! To be ‘worthy’ of a sequels … More ‘…by these words be admonished: of making many books there is no end’ …. Is the wisdom of Ecclesiastes 12:12 that the more worthy the book the less do we need the writing of many books that are sequels of it!
What villain actually had a good point? Iago in William Shakespeare’s ‘Othello’ says ‘I am not what I am’. Is anybody? At least no-one doubts that Iago is a villain. The phase ‘motiveless malignity’ was a phrase designed by the Romantic poet, Samuel Taylor Coleridge to describe him, thus not only attempting to simplify the … More Iago in William Shakespeare’s ‘Othello’ says ‘I am not what I am’. Is anybody?
Let’s assume that ‘who we are’ can release an agency that shapes us beyond ‘who we are and were’ into some refined or reconfigured version of that self in the near or distant future. However, it can only do this by its response to experience. Do novelists deal with the kind of problem any more? … More Let’s assume that ‘who we are’ can release an agency that shapes us beyond ‘who we are and were’ into some refined or reconfigured version of that self in the near or distant future. However, it can only do this by its response to experience. Do novelists deal with the kind of problem any more?
This blog reflects on why I enjoyed Geoff Andrews’ 2026 book Radicals: The Working Classes and The Making of Modern Britain, New Haven & London, Yale University Press, and why, perhaps it is a as deeply flawed a book as my enjoyment of it. I did, despite its portentous title, Radicals: The Working Classes and … More This blog reflects on why I enjoyed Geoff Andrews’ 2026 book ‘Radicals: The Working Classes and The Making of Modern Britain’, and why, perhaps it is a as deeply flawed a book as my enjoyment of it.
It’s fairly clear that the prompt question intends to imply a limit on how widely we interpret the term ‘technology’, which Wikipedia defines across its wider uses thus: Technology is the application of conceptual knowledge to achieve practical goals, especially in a reproducible way. The word technology can also mean the products resulting from such efforts, including both tangible tools such as utensils or machines, and intangible ones … More In order to answer this prompt, we need to think outside the idea of ‘pieces of technology’ to estimate the endurance of even such ‘pieces’: whether in manufacturing tools for industrial processes or commodities,
The answer to whether one is a ‘lifelong learner’ is the title of the latest novel by Kae Tempest, namely ‘Having Spent Life Seeking’: as for what we seek to learn is it this? – ‘How to get by without ever getting anywhere, when getting through a minute was infinite; but every ending achieved was still … More The answer to whether one is a ‘lifelong learner’ is the title of the latest novel by Kae Tempest, namely ‘Having Spent Life Seeking’: as for what we seek to learn is it this? – ‘How to get by without ever getting anywhere, when getting through a minute was infinite; but every ending achieved was still only the beginning’.
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