‘… a time of demonstrations and counter-demonstrations, of angry bodies assembling in the streets’.[1] Reflecting on Olivia Laing (2021) Everybody: A Book about Freedom London, Picador [Pan Macmillan] – UK edition; New York & London, W.W. Norton & Company Ltd. – USA edition. Sometimes the simplest ideas get neglected – like that holding Olivia Laing’s … More ‘… a time of demonstrations and counter-demonstrations, of angry bodies assembling in the streets’. Reflecting on Olivia Laing (2021) ‘Everybody: A Book about Freedom’

Note: Revised 25th June. I am inclined to think better of this piece now. ‘… instead lean over the mouth of a sewer, convincing yourself you are breathing in a flowerbed’;[1] ‘the swiftness of flight without the materiality of the wings … without incarnating it in a body’.[2] Reflecting on Marcel Proust (translated by Charlotte … More ‘… instead lean over the mouth of a sewer, convincing yourself you are breathing in a flowerbed’; ‘the swiftness of flight without the materiality of the wings … without incarnating it in a body’. Reflecting on Marcel Proust (translated by Charlotte Mandell) (2021) ‘The Mysterious Correspondent: New Stories’

‘WE HOLD CERTAIN ELEMENTS IN TENSION’.[1] Making a ‘comic’ out of a ‘tragedy’: drawing from inexplicable pain and blaming? Struggling to critique but thoroughly loving Rosanna Bruno with text by Anne Carson (2021) Euripides, the Trojan Women: A Comic Hexham, Bloodaxe Books For another blog on versions of the story of Troy in the work … More ‘WE HOLD CERTAIN ELEMENTS IN TENSION’. Making a ‘comic’ out of a ‘tragedy’: drawing from inexplicable pain and blaming? Struggling to critique but thoroughly loving Rosanna Bruno with text by Anne Carson (2021) Euripides, ‘The Trojan Women: A Comic’. REVISED 21st June 2021.

Optional Assignment 2 on confabulation: Course on What is a Mind? University of Cape Town course on FutureLearn:. Instructions: For this assignment we are asking you to produce a short piece of writing (300-500 words) on confabulation. It is a topic of great curiosity likely because a confabulation is not deliberate or conscious. After you … More Optional Assignment 2 on confabulation: Course on What is a Mind? University of Cape Town course on FutureLearn:.

‘SO WILL FALL // whose fault? / Paradise Lost Book 3’.[1] Whence queer poetry? Reflecting on Andrew McMillan (2021) pandemonium London, Jonathan Cape, Penguin Random House. Forgive misunderstandings and any gaucheness @AndrewPoetry Front cover For other Andrew McMillan based blogs of mine see list at end. I think when queer poetry takes on Milton it … More ‘SO WILL FALL // whose fault? / Paradise Lost Book 3’.[1] Whence queer poetry? Reflecting on Andrew McMillan (2021) ‘pandemonium’. Forgive misunderstandings and any gaucheness @AndrewPoetry

My mother donned her glasses And read a poem in a singsong Way; that taught in school Off Boy’s Lane, Halifax, near the mill That worked out her bones. The voice she had now’s gone And its cracked resistance To the world, now shouts from Banners of the Right unfurled But they are wrong. Fear … More Reprise of a poem about my mum as a ‘mill-girl’ in a mill off Boys Lane in Halifax. I think but I am not sure, it’s the one in the photo.

‘…: He came each to avoid the eyes of everyone who wanted him … . The gossips said he refused to sleep with people because he had a small penis – the leprosy of homosexuals – but this explanation was mundane: He wanted to keep this life in the realm of the perfect, the ideal. … More ‘…: He came each night to avoid the eyes of everyone who wanted him … . The gossips said he refused to sleep with people because he had a small penis – the leprosy of homosexuals – …’ . Reflecting on art and penis size in ‘dick lit’ with a focus on Andrew Holleran’s (1979) ‘Dancer from The Dance’

‘But even when Housman was trying to be as disagreeable as possible, it’s difficult not to agree with some of his observations. … . …, if the wider tone of his oration was designed to get up the noses of those in his audience, it seems to have worked: either F.R. Leavis or I.A. Richards … More ‘ …, if the wider tone of [A.E. Housman’s] oration was designed to get up the noses of those in his audience, it seems to have worked …’ What our current Poet Laureate is and what he is not. Reflecting on Simon Armitage (2021) ‘A Vertical Art: Oxford Lectures’ London, Faber & Faber Ltd.

Blog Version: Draft text and final submission for assignment (200-400 words) for Assignment 1 for Futurelearn Course ‘What Is A Mind?: University of Cape Town’. For this assignment we are asking you to produce a short piece of writing (200-400 words) on how one might probe whether something has a mind or not. After you … More Blog Version: Draft text and final submission for assignment (200-400 words) for Assignment 1 for Futurelearn Course ‘What Is A Mind?: University of Cape Town’.

‘ … “She thinks she’s Isabel fucking Archer. But she doesn’t know what it’s like round here. …”’.[1]  ‘She joined me on the roof, standing right beside me, and we watched the work on the Krishna statue up ahead. … “Who’s Isabel Archer?” I said. Radhika crossed her arms loosely and exhaled, and I felt … More ‘ … “She thinks she’s Isabel fucking Archer”. How women ‘end up’ in male novels. A new masterpiece by Sunjeev Sahota (2021) ‘China Room’

‘… far from being spontaneous studies modelled from life, these bodies were made up from a limited number of pieces [translation of abattis, which is more strictly translated as giblets] put together in a diverse range of ways’.[1] We are so used to the lies that idealise the human body in art,  life and the … More ‘… far from being spontaneous studies modelled from life, these bodies were made up from a limited number of pieces put together in a diverse range of ways’. We are so used to the lies that idealise the human body in art, life and the links we make between art and life that we forget just why Rodin’s practice as a sculptor matters so much. On visiting the 2021 exhibition at the Tate Modern and reading the brilliant catalogue by Nabila Abdel Nabi, Chloé Ariot, & Achim Borchadt-Hume (editors) ‘The Making of Rodin: The EY Exhibition’.