Author: stevendouglasblog

Born in 1954. Chequered career including Lecturer in English, Social Worker and Lecturer in Social Work. Had breaks related to mental health that also meant I worked in social care. Now retired.

Of course it is Donald Trump! But why argue with a manipulator. Instead here’s a political parable. ‘…, dost thou know / Wherein our true strength lies? Not in the army? / Nor yet in Polish aid, but in opinion – /Yes, popular opinion’.

May 1, 2025

Of course it is Donald Trump! But why argue with a manipulator. Instead here’s a political parable. Pushkin’s namesake in his play ‘Boris Godunov’ threatens the Russian state with a fundamental question about the true nature of political power, as Pushkin saw it in the early nineteenth century: ‘…, dost thou know / Wherein our true … More Of course it is Donald Trump! But why argue with a manipulator. Instead here’s a political parable. ‘…, dost thou know / Wherein our true strength lies? Not in the army? / Nor yet in Polish aid, but in opinion – /Yes, popular opinion’.

‘The Story of the Stone”: the artist and shaman come nearest to us in sharing an acknowledgement of the opaque density of our experience.  New short stories by James Kelman.

April 30, 2025

“The Story of the Stone: Tales, Entreaties & Incantations“: the artist and shaman come nearest to us in sharing an acknowledgement of the opaque density of our experience.  New short stories by James Kelman I have already referred to this set of stories in a past blog [see this link to read if you wish]. … More ‘The Story of the Stone”: the artist and shaman come nearest to us in sharing an acknowledgement of the opaque density of our experience.  New short stories by James Kelman.

Maybe the performance of difference need not involve ‘camping’!

April 29, 2025

This WordPress prompt ought to have been a gift to me – with a long history in LGBTQI+ politics, the word ‘camp’ has always had a history to reclaim. But to say ‘word’ in description of the term ‘camp’ here is not enough. I got stopped in my tracks from answering this question as I … More Maybe the performance of difference need not involve ‘camping’!

‘Only connect’ said E.M. Forster but what madness results. This blog reflects on Roland Barthes [trans. Richard Howard] (2000) ‘Camera Lucida: Reflections on Photography’.

April 28, 2025

‘Only connect’ said E.M. Forster but what madness results. Begin by making connections between these two photographs and then with them. Roland Barthes [trans. This blog reflects on Roland Barthes [trans. Richard Howard] (2000:3) Camera Lucida: Reflections on Photography, Vintage Press Edition. Connectivity was always a thing I valued – in the connection for instance … More ‘Only connect’ said E.M. Forster but what madness results. This blog reflects on Roland Barthes [trans. Richard Howard] (2000) ‘Camera Lucida: Reflections on Photography’.

‘I began doing away not only with quotation marks to distinguish dialogue but any means at all of distinguishing dialogue from narrative’. No words that matter in the way the question suggests can really be called a ‘quote’.

April 27, 2025

The prompt I chose today asks this: ‘Do you have a quote you live your life by or think of often?’ If I am live my life with anything like significant assistance of a few linked words, then those words can not really be described as a ‘quote’, for whatever the specificity of their individuality … More ‘I began doing away not only with quotation marks to distinguish dialogue but any means at all of distinguishing dialogue from narrative’. No words that matter in the way the question suggests can really be called a ‘quote’.

‘… caught in improper possession of another person’s property’.  Abdulrazak Gurnah (2025) ‘Theft’ is a novel in a great tradition of ‘David Copperfield’ & ‘Great Expectations’.

April 26, 2025

‘… caught in improper possession of another person’s property’.[1] This blog examines the sensibility of the outsider’s desire to belong and have no belongings. Abdulrazak Gurnah (2025) ‘Theft‘ is a novel in a great tradition of ‘David Copperfield‘ & ‘Great Expectations’. Karim, whose growth to total self-possession makes him the main contender pretender to be … More ‘… caught in improper possession of another person’s property’.  Abdulrazak Gurnah (2025) ‘Theft’ is a novel in a great tradition of ‘David Copperfield’ & ‘Great Expectations’.

Voting may not often change anything, but we have to hope it might.

April 25, 2025

The answer is YES. but neither person nor party can give any guarantee of fulfilling any intentions you had in voting for them, even if you had any intentions. Indirect democratic politics is a blunt tool that is barely even a record of popular opinion and few ruling parties receive a majority of votes in … More Voting may not often change anything, but we have to hope it might.

To My Husband Geoff: on his 84th Birthday today with LOVE ever and always.

April 24, 2025

Describe a positive thing a family member has done for you. To find one thing amongst the many giftsThat you bring to me is like parsing poems:What did Wordsworth simply mean when he said:’There is a blessing in this gentle breeze’.Whatever he meant, you are to me thatWind of change that charges up the emptyBattery … More To My Husband Geoff: on his 84th Birthday today with LOVE ever and always.

In the theatre we sit ‘there without moving. But under us all moved, and moved us, gently, up and down, and from side to side’. ‘Krapp’s Last Tape’ stuns and ‘moves’ me.

April 23, 2025

The stages of a long ovation: Gary Oldman honours his audience as Krapp. I am starting this blog in the train home from seeing Gary Oldman in Krapp’s Last Tape in York Theatre Royal. It is a strange thing trying to find the one phrase or sentence of action or speech that stays with you … More In the theatre we sit ‘there without moving. But under us all moved, and moved us, gently, up and down, and from side to side’. ‘Krapp’s Last Tape’ stuns and ‘moves’ me.

Great art framed in the closet: the multiple reference of queer American art.

April 22, 2025

I have to admit that this blog came yet again from my cataloguing exercise. I have reached a stash of books to sort in our conservatory, They are a kind of shrine this section to my love of Byzantine Art. Nestled amongst these books was a copy of the American art magazine [pictured above] art … More Great art framed in the closet: the multiple reference of queer American art.

It’s all bananas: theatre posters and Samuel Beckett’s ‘Krapp’s Last Tape’.

April 21, 2025

It’s all bananas: theatre posters and Samuel Beckett’s ‘Krapp’s Last Tape’. The poster for the rather famous production starring Rich Cluchey; the lower photograph is Cluchey in the role Tomorrow I am going to see Krapp’s Last Tape at York Theatre Royal. The show booked up a long time ago but I managed to get … More It’s all bananas: theatre posters and Samuel Beckett’s ‘Krapp’s Last Tape’.

The quiz of yesterday (after I lost faith in its fun): the answers.

April 20, 2025

In what follows, I scatter the correctly paired works variously in labeled collages: Barbara Hepworth Winter Solstice at ItDibs Hepworth’s idealistic iconography certainly extended to her self-portrait. The use of blank space on paper characterises the treatment of her massive forehead, full of space which her abstract figuration also has, wherein colour tones and shades … More The quiz of yesterday (after I lost faith in its fun): the answers.