“… every lapse from the imaginative into the idées reçues” of orthodoxy is disappointing”.[1]  Once upon a time there was a world where John Burnside’s statement about the nature of an artist’s writing set appropriate expectations for a reader. Has this time gone? This blog reflects on Burnside’s (2021) Aurochs and Auks: Essays on Mortality … More “… every lapse from the imaginative into the ‘idées reçues’ of orthodoxy is disappointing”. This blog reflects on Burnside’s (2021) ‘Aurochs and Auks: Essays on Mortality and Extinction’ Cornwall, Little Toller Books.

“… It’s a slow burn. Some people like things coming at them at a faster pace. That might be hard, but I felt it was probably necessary to get the full impact, the changes, and the way that the space rolls”.[1]  Space, time and the passing away of the masculine super-hero in Jane Campion’s 2021 … More “… It’s a slow burn. Some people like things coming at them at a faster pace. That might be hard, but I felt it was probably necessary to get the full impact, the changes, and the way that the space rolls”.  Space, time and the passing away of the masculine super-hero in Jane Campion’s 2021 Netflix adaptation of Thomas Savage’s 1967 novel, The Power of the Dog.

‘…/ We all profit from him, from / his so-called soteriological instincts.’ ‘Too bad if it leaves him / outsize and outside / the civilization he’s saving’.[1] This blog reflects on the social psychology of the hero as saviour in Anne Carson’s new version of Euripides’ Herakles (2021) ‘H OF H PLAYBOOK’ London, Jonathan Cape, … More ‘…/ We all profit from him, from / his so-called soteriological instincts.’ ‘Too bad if it leaves him / outsize and outside / the civilization he’s saving’. This blog reflects on the social psychology of the hero as saviour in Anne Carson’s new version of Euripides’ Herakles (2021) ‘H OF H PLAYBOOK’

‘“April,” he said, the name giving Phoebe a start, until she realised it was the month and not her missing friend he was speaking of, “An undependable time of year – you wouldn’t know what it was going to do,” and she understood her mistake.’.[1] Reflecting on John Banville’s (2021) ‘April in Spain’London, Faber. Of … More ‘“April,” he said, the name giving Phoebe a start, until she realised it was the month and not her missing friend he was speaking of, “An undependable time of year – you wouldn’t know what it was going to do,” and she understood her mistake.’.[1] Reflecting on John Banville’s (2021) ‘April in Spain’

This is a blog on portraying the artist amongst ‘the unsung heroines and heroes of British art from 1880 to 1980’. The Laing Gallery and Liss Llewellyn discuss paintings from this period in terms, amongst others of (i) the spaces they use; (ii) the self-image they prefer to show and; (iii) the meanings they attribute … More This is a blog on portraying the artist amongst ‘the unsung heroines and heroes of British art from 1880 to 1980’. The Laing Gallery and Liss Llewellyn discuss paintings from this period in terms, amongst others of (i) the spaces they use; (ii) the self-image they prefer to show and; (iii) the meanings they attribute to the process of creation. The blog uses both a visit to the Laing on 13th November 2021

Sutapa Biswas explains the intellectual and pedagogic engagement in her art with Griselda Pollock, the leading UK socialist feminist art historian of her day, as ‘saying to Pollock “Where am I in your narrative of Old Mistresses?”’[1] Francis Fukuyama sees such statements of exclusion from the grand narratives (here Western feminism) as part of the … More Sutapa Biswas explains the intellectual and pedagogic engagement in her art with Griselda Pollock, the leading UK socialist feminist art historian of her day, as ‘saying to Pollock “Where am I in your narrative of Old Mistresses?”’ This is a blog on Amy Tobin (editor) (2021) ‘Lumen: Sutapa Biswas’ London, Ridinghouse; with reference to Stuart Jeffries (2021) ‘Everything, All the Time, Everywhere: How We Became Postmodern’.

‘… if I concentrated enough, the intensity of the scrutiny alone would force life into the pictures’.[1] An attempt to find the ‘distilled essence of Lucian Freud’s art in a small sample from his early art wherein technique, style and meaning are a function of qualities the artist demands of his the interaction between the … More ‘… if I concentrated enough, the intensity of the scrutiny alone would force life into the pictures’. Finding the ‘distilled essence of Lucian Freud’s early art – where technique, style and meaning are a function of qualities the artist demands of his the interaction between the viewer’s gaze on his subjects and those subjects’ illusory ‘gaze’ on and into their viewers. A blog on David Scherf (ed.) (2021: 69) Lucian Freud: The Copper Paintings

‘“Nothing changes. …” /// “…. If they had their way the entire country would be pebble-dashed, …”/ “Who are they?” I asked. / “…The janitors of mediocrity. The custodians of drab … . Men mainly. Where once we built towers to heaven, now we build frumpy sweatboxes for pen-pushers. After nine hundred years I do … More ‘“Nothing changes. …” Reflecting on ‘The Offing’, a dramatisation of the novel by Benjamin Myers of 2019 at the Stephen Joseph Theatre and the Live Theatre, Newcastle.  Citations from paperback edition of novel: Myers, B. (2020) ‘The Offing’.

‘Penelope’s scepticism is my invention, …’.[1] ‘I follow Apollonius in having Jason tell Medea about her cousin Ariadne – in fact I have made Jason’s economy with the truth much more obvious than it is in the original’.[2]  This is a blog on some of the reasons why writers and artists who are also women … More ‘Penelope’s scepticism is my invention, …’. ‘… I have made Jason’s economy with the truth much more obvious than it is in the original’.[2] A hymn in praise of Charlotte Higgins’ [2021] ‘Greek Myths: A New Retelling’.

From a rebellious Northern Powerhouse to a pillar of the establishment – the echoes from Raby’s rich past.  This is a blog on a trip to Raby Castle on Sunday 31st October 2021 (Halloween) provided for my husband Geoff and me for my 67th birthday (which was actually last week 24th October) by wonderful friend, … More From a rebellious Northern Powerhouse to a pillar of the establishment – a trip to Raby Castle on Sunday 31st October 2021 (Halloween).  

‘“…Whoever told you he was a faggot is lying …” … “Or Crazy” / Crazy. Yes you’d have to be crazy to think that. And we all remember what happens to the crazy.’ ’Re-(Queer)-Positioning the literary question of who writes and what is gay writing.[1]  This is a blog reflecting on the appropriation of discourse … More ‘  “…Whoever told you he was a faggot is lying …” ‘ Re-(Queer)-Positioning the literary question of who writes and what is gay writing. On Harper Jameson’s (with W.A.W. Parker) [2020] ‘The Waste Land’ and William di Canzio’s (2021) ‘Alec’ .