‘Me, Lovely, in full hair and makeup, … . / The country is not knowing her yet, this new superstar. but me, I am knowing her’.[1] ‘He wonders whether they know who he is or whether they salute anybody who turns up in a government-issue white Ambassador’.[2] ‘I might have studied literature and I might … More In praise of an engaged literature. Reflections on the price of being known as you might wish to be known in Megha Majumdar (2021) ‘A Burning’, London, New York, Sydney, Toronto, New Delhi, Scribner.

‘This was the burden of the soft ones: to suffer in all but silence because the whimpering that slipped through the lips was inevitable. … he cussed the heart that knew not how to protect itself from the rift’.[1] Redeeming the ‘soft ones’ from the hard and fractured history of oppression and resistance. Notes on … More ‘This was the burden of the soft ones: … he cussed the heart that knew not how to protect itself from the rift’.[1] Redeeming the ‘soft ones’ from the hard and fractured history of oppression and resistance. Notes on Robert Jones Jr. (2021) ‘The Prophets’

Liberating resistance to the maintenance of the ‘very fragile fucking structure’ of accumulated culture and its oppressions.[1] A preliminary set of comments based on a first reading of Jenni Fagan’s (2021) Luckenbooth Richmond, London, William Heinemann/Penguin Random House. CONTAINS SPOILERS Dot turns as a splitting sound ricochets over the sky – the skeletal wooden beams … More Liberating resistance to the maintenance of the ‘very fragile fucking structure’ of accumulated culture and its oppressions.[1] A preliminary set of comments based on a first reading of Jenni Fagan’s (2021) ‘Luckenbooth’.

‘It’s not a good thing, Ron, to be queer. …/(…)/(…) After a time you’ll find the right girl. (…) But you must look. You are a normal person who has been infected. You must get it out of your system. Being queer’s no good for you. It cost Julian his life’ (published 1953).[1] Rodney Garland’s … More ‘It’s not a good thing, Ron, to be queer. … After a time you’ll find the right girl. … But you must look. You are a normal person who has been infected. … Being queer’s no good for you. It cost Julian his life’ (published 1953).[1] Rodney Garland’s ‘The Heart In Exile’

‘The club world is a shifting one. A club has its moment, and fades; people pass by or pass on; … Muriel is the exception – she continues’.[1] Learning about the passage of time and persons in Darren Coffield’s (2020) Tales from the Colony Room: London’s Lost Bohemia London, Unbound. This blog was a piece … More ‘The club world is a shifting one. A club has its moment, and fades; people pass by or pass on; … Muriel is the exception – she continues’. Learning about the passage of time and persons in Darren Coffield’s (2020) ‘Tales from the Colony Room: London’s Lost Bohemia’

On Paul Cartledge’s (2020) Thebes: The Forgotten City of Ancient Greece London, Picador. Reflecting again on why and how and to what effect certain versions of cultural history get lost or dispersed. The cover A little time ago I became fascinated by Judith Herrin’s 2020 book on the Italian city of Ravenna. I wrote a … More On Paul Cartledge’s (2020) ‘Thebes: The Forgotten City of Ancient Greece’. Reflecting again on why and how and to what effect certain versions of cultural history get lost or dispersed.

Reflecting on art, masculinity, pornography and sexual violence. Can these ideas be separated? Examining Sebastian Munôz’s film The Prince (El Principe).  Note that this film is rated suitable only for people over the age of 18 because it contains sexual violence, strong sex, nudity and ‘gory injury details’. Do not read this if you are … More Reflecting on art, masculinity, pornography and sexual violence. Can these ideas be separated? Examining Sebastian Munôz’s film The Prince (El Principe). Do not read this if you are offended by references to sexual or violent content in films.

Photography of Faces: What does ‘fame’ look like in 1960? L. Fritz Gruber (ed.) (1960) FAME: Famous Portraits of Famous People by Famous Photographers London and New York, The Focal Press. First of all: this blog speaks of a select gallery of images from a book I found in Oxfam at Darlington that largely attempt … More Photography of Faces: What does ‘fame’ look like in 1960? L. Fritz Gruber (ed.) (1960) ‘FAME: Famous Portraits of Famous People by Famous Photographers’ London and New York, The Focal Press.

A personal but critical reflection on Wendy Hitchmough’s The Bloomsbury Look New Haven, CT & London, Yale University Press. Some thoughts, based also on having left an OU History of Art MA, about why the History of Art fails to justify itself as a distinct academic discipline? I found this book on an independent bookshop’s … More A personal but critical reflection on Wendy Hitchmough’s ‘The Bloomsbury Look’ New Haven, CT & London, Yale University Press.

‘…. have always been very unmanly in my strivings to get things all compact and in good train’.[1]  ‘For all which idle ease I think I must be damned. I begin to have dreadful suspicions that this fruitless way of life is not looked upon by satisfaction by the open eyes above’.[2] Queering the need … More ‘…. have always been very unmanly in my strivings to get things all compact and in good train’. ‘For all which idle ease I think I must be damned. I begin to have dreadful suspicions that this fruitless way of life is not looked upon by satisfaction by the open eyes above’. Queering the need to work in works of art in Edward Fitzgerald’s ‘Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam’.

Visualizing the Male Erotic: Art, Pornography and Psychiatric Labelling There is for me an iconic scene in Steve McQueen’s Shame where the hero Brandon, played so often wordlessly but brilliantly and intensely by Michael Fassbender, and ever on the look for his next high on sexual experience, cruises the corridors of a gay club’s sex … More Visualizing the Male Erotic: Art, Pornography and Psychiatric Labeling

Moral vision and autobiography: Seeing selves differently for the first time. @TheCleggAgency. Reflecting again on the nature of complex moral empathy in Bill Clegg’s (2020) The End of the Day London, Jonathan Cape. What do we learn from examining the author’s two volumes of memoirs: Bill Clegg (2012a.,b.) Portrait of an Addict as a Young … More Moral vision and autobiography: Seeing selves differently for the first time. @TheCleggAgency