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.

‘A pervasive pattern of instability of relationships, self-image, and affects and marked impulsivity, …’: Are DSM-5-TR Categorical Criteria means of describing a person, a character, an author, or a reading experience ever? This blog reflects on Derek Owusu (2025) ‘Borderline Fiction’, Edinburgh, Canongate.

November 12, 2025

‘A pervasive pattern of instability of relationships, self-image, and affects and marked impulsivity, …’: Are DSM-5-TR Categorical Criteria means of describing a person, a character, an author, or a reading experience ever? This blog reflects on Derek Owusu (2025) Borderline Fiction, Edinburgh,  Canongate. As yet, I have discovered no ‘professional’ critical view of this book, … More ‘A pervasive pattern of instability of relationships, self-image, and affects and marked impulsivity, …’: Are DSM-5-TR Categorical Criteria means of describing a person, a character, an author, or a reading experience ever? This blog reflects on Derek Owusu (2025) ‘Borderline Fiction’, Edinburgh, Canongate.

Never trust my Booker predictions! Yet ‘Flesh’ is a great winner of the 2025 prize.

November 11, 2025

Never trust my Booker predictions! Yet ‘Flesh’ is a great winner of the 2025 prize. In my last go at a prediction of the 2025 Booker [see this link], I placed David Szalay’s novel Flesh , 3rd out of the 6th. And now we find it has won. It is more than a worthy winner, … More Never trust my Booker predictions! Yet ‘Flesh’ is a great winner of the 2025 prize.

Making your mark from the offset: the fallacy of control. This blog is a reflection on Benjamin Myers’ new work, ‘Jesus Christ Kinski: A Novel about a Film about a Performance about Jesus’.

November 8, 2025

Making your mark from the offset: the fallacy of control. This blog is a reflection on Benjamin Myers’ new work, ‘Jesus Christ Kinski: A Novel about a Film about a Performance about Jesus‘. A quiet man reflects on a loud one, whose mouth is full of hubristic pretension and loudly scored swear words. How does … More Making your mark from the offset: the fallacy of control. This blog is a reflection on Benjamin Myers’ new work, ‘Jesus Christ Kinski: A Novel about a Film about a Performance about Jesus’.

My favourite subject was ‘Fainting in Coils’, of course!

November 7, 2025

The saddest character in Lewis Carroll’s repertoire of tragi-comic characters is the Mock-Turtle. While his friend the Gryphon carries his working-class aura abroad with him, making him feel himself  to be the equal of tyrannical Queens, the Mock-Turtle tries to blame his education for never rising from the great unwashed because ‘Washing’ was an ‘extra’ … More My favourite subject was ‘Fainting in Coils’, of course!

To the memory of John Burnside and in dear friendship for Joanne, I contemplate. the poet’s posthumous lines: ‘and everything they loved / is erstwhile, in the empire of forgetting: / …’

November 6, 2025

To the memory of John Burnside and in dear friendship for Joanne, I contemplate. the poet’s posthumous lines: ‘and everything they loved / is erstwhile, in the empire of forgetting: /  …’ [*] There is nothing that once were the objects of our lives that can be remembered in their entirety, hence the fact that … More To the memory of John Burnside and in dear friendship for Joanne, I contemplate. the poet’s posthumous lines: ‘and everything they loved / is erstwhile, in the empire of forgetting: / …’

‘Anticipating time with starting courage’. Lines from ‘Troilus and Cressida’ Act 4, Scene V woven into a dialogue between an old man (Chronos) and his son (Kairos).

November 4, 2025

‘Anticipating time with starting courage’. Adapted lines from ‘Troilus and Cressida‘ Act 4, Scene V woven into a fantasy dialogue between an old man (Chronos) and his son (Kairos). AN OLD MAN TO HIS QUEER SON ABOUT TAKING ON A HUSBAND:These things take time, young man. It’s not for you,Anticipating time with starting courage.THE YOUNG … More ‘Anticipating time with starting courage’. Lines from ‘Troilus and Cressida’ Act 4, Scene V woven into a dialogue between an old man (Chronos) and his son (Kairos).

In a historical novel, you can ‘meet’ people supposed in those fictions to be famous AND those who are or ‘were’ so in ‘real’ life simultaneously. In Neil Blakemore’s 2025 novel ‘Objects Of Desire’, the character named Christopher Isherwood says that people want fame: ‘So that they can become monsters and make others feel bad, and no one will dare challenge them’.

November 3, 2025

In a historical novel, you can ‘meet’ people supposed in those fictions to be famous AND those who are or ‘were’ so in ‘real’ life simultaneously. In Neil Blakemore’s 2025 novel Objects Of Desire, the character named Christopher Isherwood says that people want fame: ‘So that they can become monsters and make others feel bad, … More In a historical novel, you can ‘meet’ people supposed in those fictions to be famous AND those who are or ‘were’ so in ‘real’ life simultaneously. In Neil Blakemore’s 2025 novel ‘Objects Of Desire’, the character named Christopher Isherwood says that people want fame: ‘So that they can become monsters and make others feel bad, and no one will dare challenge them’.

This blog documents reflection on a visit, and reading afterwards about, ‘Gilbert & George: 21st Century Pictures’ in the London South Bank, The Hayward Gallery on 22nd October 2025 at 10.30 a.m.

November 2, 2025

What might Gilbert & George mean when they said in 1986 in What Our Art Means (and republished by them in the catalogue of this exhibition in 2025) that it is intended ‘to speak across the barriers of knowledge directly to People about their Life, and not about their knowledge of art’.[1] This blog documents … More This blog documents reflection on a visit, and reading afterwards about, ‘Gilbert & George: 21st Century Pictures’ in the London South Bank, The Hayward Gallery on 22nd October 2025 at 10.30 a.m.

This blog is written after seeing Anton Chekhov’s ‘The Seagull’ as adapted by Michael Poulton at The Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh on Wednesday 29th October at 2.30 p.m.

October 31, 2025

This blog is written after seeing Anton Chekhov’s The Seagull as adapted by Michael Poulton at The Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh on Wednesday 29th October at 2.30 p.m. Let’s start with the fact that John Poulton calls this version of The Seagull not a translation but an adaption. Nevertheless in his programme note he makes it … More This blog is written after seeing Anton Chekhov’s ‘The Seagull’ as adapted by Michael Poulton at The Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh on Wednesday 29th October at 2.30 p.m.

The ubiquitous phenomenon of the unreliable narrator in the novel is an admission that the only truth in human hearts is its tendency to ambivalence; knowing, feeling and sensing opposite ideas , emotions and sensations to be true and possible at the same time. Why  should we ‘know’ this? I use a reading of John Banville’s ‘Venetian Vespers’ (2025) as a test case.

October 30, 2025

The ubiquitous phenomenon of the unreliable narrator in the novelin the novel is an admission that the only truth in human hearts is its tendency to ambivalence; knowing, feeling and sensing opposite ideas , emotions and sensations to be true and possible at the same time. Why should we ‘know’ this? I use a reading … More The ubiquitous phenomenon of the unreliable narrator in the novel is an admission that the only truth in human hearts is its tendency to ambivalence; knowing, feeling and sensing opposite ideas , emotions and sensations to be true and possible at the same time. Why  should we ‘know’ this? I use a reading of John Banville’s ‘Venetian Vespers’ (2025) as a test case.

Innocence is not the condition of childhood- rather it is inability to control the heart or stop it from being overwhelmed. This blog is an attempt to prepare myself to see a revival of Chekhov’s ‘The Seagull’ at The Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh on Wednesday 29th October at 2.30 p.m.

October 28, 2025

Innocence is not the condition of childhood- rather it is inability to control the heart or stop it from being overwhelmed. This truth is embedded in the reflexive nature of Chekhov’s great play The Sea-Gull. In Act IV of The Sea-Gull, we hear of the stage in a country estate’s garden that in Act I … More Innocence is not the condition of childhood- rather it is inability to control the heart or stop it from being overwhelmed. This blog is an attempt to prepare myself to see a revival of Chekhov’s ‘The Seagull’ at The Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh on Wednesday 29th October at 2.30 p.m.