‘… excited, with no cause that the wit can define’.[1] Charlotte Peacock’s (2017) Into The Mountain: A Life of Nan Shepherd Cambridge, Galileo Publishers. We never write a life: we, or least Charlotte Peacock, writes the meaning of the patch of time between life and death. This large project starts with smaller acts in which … More ‘… excited, with no cause that the wit can define’.[1] Charlotte Peacock’s (2017) ‘Into The Mountain: A Life of Nan Shepherd’

‘I can smell him from across the room’[1]: Alex Allison (2019) ‘The Art of the Body’ London, Dialogue Books. Making art from unacknowledged ambivalence between desire and disgust about the body for the 21st Century. ‘I can smell him from across the room’. This is a brief sentence that tells us very little, say for … More ‘I can smell him from across the room’: Alex Allison (2019) ‘The Art of the Body’ London, Dialogue Books.

Articulating ‘queer speaking silence’[1]: Queer reflections on desire and sex/gender in Sebastian Barry’s (2020) A Thousand Moons London, Faber & Faber. OR “Longing for something I had no lingo for, …”.[2] One of the most disappointing of the features of the reviews of this book was their use the fact that this book is a … More Articulating ‘queer speaking silence’: Queer reflections on desire and sex/gender in Sebastian Barry’s (2020) ‘A Thousand Moons’

Reading Danez Smith – ‘Don’t Call Us Dead: Poems’ (2018 UK, Chatto & Windus, London) & ‘Homie: poems’ (title for brothers, my nig , not to be said out loud by white people) [2020 USA, Minneapolis, Graywolf Press).               this book was titled homie because I don’t want non-black people to say my nig out … More Reading Danez Smith – ‘Don’t Call Us Dead: Poems’ (2018) & ‘Homie: poems’ (2020).

‘Snow, snow, snow / is how the snow speaks, / is how the page reads.’[1] in Simon Armitage’s (2020) Magnetic Field: The Marsden Poems  London, Faber & Faber;  “… carved into the rocky escarpment on the exposed flank of Pule Hill, …. Thus far it’s the only one to be vandalised.’[2] Reading inscriptions in stone … More ‘Snow, snow, snow / is how the snow speaks, / is how the page reads.’[1] in Simon Armitage’s (2020) ‘Magnetic Field: The Marsden Poems’

Queering the Apostolic Mission in Christos Tsiolkas’s (2020) Damascus London, Atlantic Books;  “… as if there were angels in him, wrestling for dominance”.[1] Romano-Greek inheritance of Χρήστος Τσιόλκας Section 1: Introduction: Wrestling in & with a book Wrestling with angels is an important motif in this book. In an Afterword, Tsiolkas, speaking of the writing … More Queering the Apostolic Mission in Christos Tsiolkas’ (2020) 'Damascus'; “… as if there were angels in him, wrestling for dominance”.

Approaching Pierre Bonnard through The Nabis: Reflecting on ‘artistic groups’. Monday, 23 Jul 2018, 09:30Visible to anyone in the world Edited by Steve Bamlett, Monday, 23 Jul 2018, 16:09 Approaching Pierre Bonnard through The Nabis: Reflecting on ‘artistic groups’. I want to find a way of thinking about this topic and I’d welcome input from … More Approaching Pierre Bonnard through The Nabis: Reflecting on ‘artistic groups’.

Performed emotion in Anne Enright’s (2020) Actress London, Jonathan Cape;  “… never the same show twice. Othello, Trilby, Oedipus: jealousy, incest, blood and desire”.[1] I seem to remember that, in a BBC TV programme about one of Colm Tóibin’s family drama novels, Enright comments that it is a great pity that the rest of the … More Performed emotion in Anne Enright’s (2020) ‘Actress’; “… never the same show twice. Othello, Trilby, Oedipus: jealousy, incest, blood and desire”.

Touring J.M.W. Turner’s tour to the North: The Tate’s travelling Turner: Northern Exposure Seen in the Mercer Gallery, Harrogate on 12th March 2020. Reference to Hill, D. & Cox, D.L. (2019) Turner: Northern Exposure Berwick-upon-Tweed, Berwick Visual Arts in partnership with The Granary Gallery, Berwick-upon-Tweed, Tullie House Museum, Carlisle & Mercer Gallery, Harrogate. This small … More Touring J.M.W. Turner’s tour to the North: The Tate’s travelling ‘Turner: Northern Exposure’ seen in the Mercer Gallery, Harrogate on 12th March 2020.

Language forever messing ‘up the whole business’: Okechukwu Nzelu’s The Private Joys of Nnenna Maloney (2019) London, Dialogue Books. The written word, he believed, ought to make things clearer, more immutable. Instead, (it) … was forever dependent on context, always open to misreading, mistranslation, misinterpretation … , this messed up the whole business. Nzelu (2019:245) … More Language forever messing ‘up the whole business’: Okechukwu Nzelu’s ‘The Private Joys of Nnenna Maloney’ (2019)

Writing novels as a kind of magic in Graham Swift’s Here We Are (2020) London, Simon & Schuster UK Ltd Graham Swift’s novels often deal with a moment in the remembered past that has to be relived by witnesses, such as the characters who might have been present in that past or those asked to … More Writing novels as a kind of magic in Graham Swift’s ‘Here We Are’ (2020)

Reflecting on why biographies satisfy! Fiona MacCarthy (2019) Walter Gropius: Visionary Founder of the Bauhaus London, Faber & Faber (read in 2020 Paperback ed.)  I absolutely loved this book but find it interesting now, after reading it, to ask myself why I was motivated to read it and what I enjoyed it. Of course authors … More Reflecting on why biographies satisfy! Fiona MacCarthy (2019) ‘Walter Gropius: Visionary Founder of the Bauhaus’.