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.

I decided never to rely on my very first impressions of what is likable or not. Why I persevered then with Rupert Everett’s short stories in ‘The American No’. This blog is mainly on his Oscar for A Last Season.

April 14, 2025

I decided never to rely on my very first impressions of what is likable or not. Why I persevered then with Rupert Everett’s (2025) short stories in The American No London, Abacus Books. This blog is mainly on his Oscar for A Last Season The American No is a new set of short stories by … More I decided never to rely on my very first impressions of what is likable or not. Why I persevered then with Rupert Everett’s short stories in ‘The American No’. This blog is mainly on his Oscar for A Last Season.

When did I last feel nervous? Literally, when I read that poem.

April 13, 2025

The question today is full of Unstated assumptions about the word ‘nervous’, even if we grant that it is older meaning in thr history of the usage of this Latin-derived word in English is obsolete which I can’t quite admit. Here is the point about the word in etymonline. com: late 14c., “containing nerves; affecting … More When did I last feel nervous? Literally, when I read that poem.

Happiness can only be a fleeting accident of life, not a permanent keepsake.

April 12, 2025

What are 5 everyday things that bring you happiness? Today at Bishop Auckland festival market, I looked for five things that gave me happiness. They don’t endure. They can’t.  Happiness can only be a fleeting accident of life, not a permanent keepsake. I have tried to unpack my issues with the expectation of ‘happiness’ already … More Happiness can only be a fleeting accident of life, not a permanent keepsake.

Good theatre is a shared experience but what is shared can only be decided by negotiation of our responsibility to all of its collaborators – writers, directorial staff, actors, the theatre and the audience. J.B. Priestley has his strange inspector (of what we ask) say in ‘An Inspector Calls’: “you see we have to share something. If there’s nothing else, we’ll have to share our guilt”. A funny thing happened to me when I went to see Stephen Daldry’s production at the Sunderland Empire on 8th April 2024.

April 11, 2025

Good theatre is a shared experience but what is shared can only be decided by negotiation of our responsibility to all of its collaborators – writers, directorial staff, actors, the theatre and the audience. J.B. Priestley has his strange inspector (of what we ask) say in ‘An Inspector Calls‘: “you see we have to share … More Good theatre is a shared experience but what is shared can only be decided by negotiation of our responsibility to all of its collaborators – writers, directorial staff, actors, the theatre and the audience. J.B. Priestley has his strange inspector (of what we ask) say in ‘An Inspector Calls’: “you see we have to share something. If there’s nothing else, we’ll have to share our guilt”. A funny thing happened to me when I went to see Stephen Daldry’s production at the Sunderland Empire on 8th April 2024.

‘When Paul and Peter wake up in the same bed, and recognize that they have been asleep, each one of them mentally reaches back and makes connection with but one of the two streams of thought which were broken by the sleeping hours’. My first thought is: “that explanatory parables open up a can of worms”.

April 10, 2025

‘When Paul and Peter wake up in the same bed, and recognize that they have been asleep, each one of them mentally reaches back and makes connection with but one of the two streams of thought which were broken by the sleeping hours’. [1] My first thought is: “that explanatory parables open up a can of worms”. … More ‘When Paul and Peter wake up in the same bed, and recognize that they have been asleep, each one of them mentally reaches back and makes connection with but one of the two streams of thought which were broken by the sleeping hours’. My first thought is: “that explanatory parables open up a can of worms”.

Sea Sepent Dancing! Well, you asked!

April 9, 2025

What’s the most fun way to exercise? Laocoön (/leɪˈɒkoʊˌɒn, -kəˌwɒn/; Ancient Greek: Λαοκόων, romanized: Laokóōn, IPA: [laokóɔːn], gen.: Λαοκόοντος) is a figure in Greek and Roman mythology and the Epic Cycle. For that perfect mix of fun and pain, without which latter there is no gain and no grace, spend time Dancing with Sea Serpents. … More Sea Sepent Dancing! Well, you asked!

It ‘s all in the making: reconstructing Munch.

April 7, 2025

As I work through my library, some books that startled me when I bought them have startled me again, for I have forgotten how novel they seemed. Such a one is that catalogue from an exhibition in the Newcastle Polytechnic in 1980 and related to the Newcastle Festival. The book was published in 1984. Organised … More It ‘s all in the making: reconstructing Munch.

‘The School Play’: Growing up Queer amid so many manly performances. The poet James Merrill on the perils of a “small part”, “but an important one”, when: ‘What was not important to the self / At nine or ten’.

April 6, 2025

As I sort my library, I come across writers I have long meant to read. Such a one is the poet James Merrill, who I came across in relation to reading novels of his period some years ago. I know nothing really of Merrill.  I read through the selection I have in the Everyman Library … More ‘The School Play’: Growing up Queer amid so many manly performances. The poet James Merrill on the perils of a “small part”, “but an important one”, when: ‘What was not important to the self / At nine or ten’.

Do Roads answer questions? In honour of a great photographer, Chris Killip

April 5, 2025

As I was sorting out my books again, I came across a book I bought at the Laing (pronounced ‘Laine’) Gallery in Newcastle when I visited the wonderful permanent exhibition there. It’s a huge book – the size newspapers used to be and made of a similar kind of paper. But how do you look … More Do Roads answer questions? In honour of a great photographer, Chris Killip

‘For the Mesopotamians, truth was not contained ….’: was their culture such a one that norms existed alongside happily alongside their contradiction, and repression was unnecessary. This blog reflects on a first reading of Selena Wisnom [2025] ‘The Library of Ancient Wisdom: Mesopotamia and the Making of History’.

April 4, 2025

When Alexander Pope warned that ‘a little learning is a dangerous thing,’ he was warning that, since error lies everywhere, we need exposure to all the evidence that supports the one and only version of knowledge of the world that is the truth. The real danger is that there are so many statements that claim … More ‘For the Mesopotamians, truth was not contained ….’: was their culture such a one that norms existed alongside happily alongside their contradiction, and repression was unnecessary. This blog reflects on a first reading of Selena Wisnom [2025] ‘The Library of Ancient Wisdom: Mesopotamia and the Making of History’.

Thomas Haller’s resurrection is his ‘lilac renaissance, his violet hour’.

April 3, 2025

Fritz Schein lives entirely in, and on as his means of living, ‘the art world’ of ‘spectacularity’ – a world of apparently random images and appearances that eschews the privacy of inner reflection by being in love with the still surface of mirrors. When the ‘great recluse’ Thomas Haller turns up at a show Schein knows … More Thomas Haller’s resurrection is his ‘lilac renaissance, his violet hour’.