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.

‘Never meet your heroes!’: An illustrative tale of the folly of engaging informally, for that’s impossible, with important writers

January 10, 2025

The i newspaper collage above promises one minute with Jenni Fagan. It is a provocative statement. It’s  almost problematic in its offering of the writer to any reader. This blog was stimulated as I was scanning my bookshelves in order to catalogue my personal library. The last sequence of shelves I have attempted has been … More ‘Never meet your heroes!’: An illustrative tale of the folly of engaging informally, for that’s impossible, with important writers

‘When will I, will I be famous?’: A blog on the question of desired ‘fame’.

January 9, 2025

The song by Bros ‘When will I, will I be famous?’ with lyrics by Tom Watkins and Nicky Graham seems silly enough when it gets into your head like the ear worm it is. But I often find that seeing the lyrics in print rather changes how you read and interpret it, when not driven … More ‘When will I, will I be famous?’: A blog on the question of desired ‘fame’.

Many of Iris Murdoch’s characters feel they are in a drama not of their own scripting (which, of course they are) that can only be changed by getting out from ‘under the net’ of a web of false relationships. This blog contains some thoughts on reading a play I had neglected by the great novelist.

January 8, 2025

Many of Iris Murdoch’s characters feel they are in a drama not of their own scripting (which, of course they are – as Bradley Pearson and Hamlet are in The Black Prince and Hamlet respectively and both together in the first) that can only be changed by getting out from under the net of a … More Many of Iris Murdoch’s characters feel they are in a drama not of their own scripting (which, of course they are) that can only be changed by getting out from ‘under the net’ of a web of false relationships. This blog contains some thoughts on reading a play I had neglected by the great novelist.

Making and communicating decisions about our ‘favourite things’ are not exclusive to humans, who forget the truism, as stated by the University of Vienna cognitive biologist W. Tecumseh Fitch says: we really need to … recognize a very simple biological fact: It’s a truism, but people are animals, too.”

January 7, 2025

W. Tecumseh Fitch, a cognitive biologist (and, of course, an animal) from the University of Vienna, giving his keynote speech at the 2017 International Convention of Psychological Science in Vienna: ‘we really need to … recognize a very simple biological fact: It’s a truism, but people are animals, too.” Available at: https://www.psychologicalscience.org/observer/humans-are-animals-too-a-whirlwind-tour-of-cognitive-biology Forget precedence and … More Making and communicating decisions about our ‘favourite things’ are not exclusive to humans, who forget the truism, as stated by the University of Vienna cognitive biologist W. Tecumseh Fitch says: we really need to … recognize a very simple biological fact: It’s a truism, but people are animals, too.”

Sequestered:  The art of self-discovery might be no more than facing up to being  locked-in with your own doubts & uncertainty . A reflection after seeing Edward Berger’s film Conclave.

January 6, 2025

Sequestered:  The art of self-discovery might be no more than facing up to being  locked-in with your own doubts & uncertainty . A reflection after seeing Edward Berger’s film Conclave. [The film is directed by Edward Berger and written by Peter Straughan, based on the 2016 novel by Robert Harris]. There is a truly impressive moment – … More Sequestered:  The art of self-discovery might be no more than facing up to being  locked-in with your own doubts & uncertainty . A reflection after seeing Edward Berger’s film Conclave.

‘Snow was general all over Ireland’. Phrases that suddenly  make demands on you that you understand  them more fully.

January 5, 2025

We read about the weather all of the time and without thinking about them. I opened my smartphone cover, and the message hit me that ‘snow was likely to continue’ in my area of residence on the sides of the Northern Pennines in County Durham. Perhaps it caught my eye because I was concerned about … More ‘Snow was general all over Ireland’. Phrases that suddenly  make demands on you that you understand  them more fully.

When sexual innuendo is intended and when it is not in Shakespeare’s plays: ‘Nothing will come of nothing’.

January 4, 2025

A good blogger has I feel already stolen my thunder in respect of the term ‘nothing’ in Shakespeare about which I had intended to blog about; having nothing other on my mind. That blog takes its evidence from a piece in The Daily Telegraph about the polysemous use of the tern ‘nothing’, pronounced ‘noting’ in … More When sexual innuendo is intended and when it is not in Shakespeare’s plays: ‘Nothing will come of nothing’.

The meaning of a Pot Noodle (or other ‘snack’) and when you might ingest from it, possibly in secret, the mass of calories it supplies?

January 3, 2025

Believe it or not, there is a Wikipedia entry for ‘snack’. I link to it here. What is more this entry tries to enhance the significance of the term by looking at cultural variants of foodstuffs considered ‘snacks’ across a number of locations and cultures, as well as tieing it to theoriesof the propensities involved … More The meaning of a Pot Noodle (or other ‘snack’) and when you might ingest from it, possibly in secret, the mass of calories it supplies?

‘Fictile worlds’: a business in the interests of pretensive human well-being aimed at consumers we know to be the ‘most fingent plastic of creatures’.

January 2, 2025

The choice of vocabulary to describe the world we are always trying to shape around us and our needs – either in societies, groups or as individuals – is sometimes the most urgent issue in those worlds. This may be because our chief business as meaning-makers and users of meaning is to get things done … More ‘Fictile worlds’: a business in the interests of pretensive human well-being aimed at consumers we know to be the ‘most fingent plastic of creatures’.

What are youthful attachments worth? In my ‘salad days’ I knew no ‘meat’. And now I am a pescatarian.

January 1, 2025

Young people are portrayed in literature, as inordinately fond of things they can’t quite digest or understand. In another blog I mentioned the summary given by Mr Venus, the aged taxidermist in Charles Dickens’ Our Mutual Friend, seeing off a young man who checks the change too carefully (for old men’s teeth substituted for the … More What are youthful attachments worth? In my ‘salad days’ I knew no ‘meat’. And now I am a pescatarian.

2025. What’s New about it? What we might think tomorrow when the booze abaits into split head, hopefully only your own?

December 31, 2024

The eve of this New Year, again, dangerFlows fluid, booze’s fast flux in venousVain channels, popping in the throat and thenThe flood follows. Scars of dependent bloodFrom ‘kiddies’ too, fallen near that flawed tree.Hogmanay wishes for that newer thingBound, as they know, to be nothing newer Than  subsequent pain, just that bit older Than is … More 2025. What’s New about it? What we might think tomorrow when the booze abaits into split head, hopefully only your own?

The harmful ignorance of Boris Johnson, or when will we dead awake and feel the oppression we foster in others.

December 30, 2024

The Rape of Ganymede – attitudes to rape in Ancient Literature The right wing press (the dailies Mail, and Telegraph) and GB News, and only they, are doing their best to continue the attitude of culture war and making news stories about ‘woke’ attitudes and their effect on freedom of speech. Their latest target is … More The harmful ignorance of Boris Johnson, or when will we dead awake and feel the oppression we foster in others.