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 have barely known but one Autolycus in my life, other than him who Shakespeare sung, then dubbed in prose: My traffic is sheets; when the kite builds, look to lesser linen. My father named me Autolycus; who being, as I am, littered under Mercury, was likewise a snapper-up of unconsidered trifles. With die and … More Singing a song for Autolycus
In Jack Thorne’s script from The Motive and The Cue, the character named as the film actor Hume Cronyn, the husband of Jessica Tandy, says when he is reminded of the fact that his wife is better known than him, says: ‘Darling, better to touch the stars than never to know them at all’.[1] This … More This blog is a preparation for seeing the National theatre screening of ‘The Motive and the Cue’ at the Gala cinema, Durham, on the 21st February 2024.
Autofictions are fictional life stories that look like an autobiography and have autobiographical elements from the author but are told about the life of a fictional character. Some openings of both autobiographies and autofictions are a kind of closure as well as an opening. They assume a summing up of self in some take on, … More ‘Why write me up’, said life to me: ‘I haven’t done with you yet’.
Sean O’Hagan says in recounting an interview in The Observer with Jonathan Glazer that the film he directs, The Zone of Interest, is ‘… the embodiment of the Jewish writer Primo Levi’s insistence that it is ordinary people, rather than monsters, who are capable of committing atrocity. “Monsters exist,” wrote Levi, a Holocaust survivor, “but … More Sean O’Hagan says that ‘The Zone of Interest’, is ‘… the embodiment of the Jewish writer Primo Levi’s insistence that it is ordinary people, rather than monsters, who are capable of committing atrocity. This is a blog on Jonathan Glazer’s film.
What experiences in life helped you grow the most? Do you remember this messianic moment in Toryism when Liz Truss announced her discovery of an ‘Anti-Growth Coalition’ in British politics and then forced her ideas into action causing widespread economic decline. The notion of ‘growth’ as the panacea of all ills ought to have had … More The dominance of aspirations to growth: the illusion of the economic and psychosocial versions of growth in capitalist societies.
Describe a phase in life that was difficult to say goodbye to. I think saying goodbye to the magic, which is never more than an illusory object of magical thinking, is lifelong. Magical thinking is that form of thinking in which wishes substitute for the realities they can’t in fact shape, or in some case … More Goodbye to the magic.
This is a blog that reflects on a fine biography, perhaps the best I have ever read of anyone, of Frantz Fanon. The book is Adam Shatz (2024) The Rebel’s Clinic: The Revolutionary Lives of Frantz Fanon London, Head of Zeus, Bloomsbury Publishing Co. Frantz Fanon has fascinated me for a long time. I can’t … More This is a blog that reflects on a fine biography, perhaps the best I have ever read of anyone. The book is Adam Shatz (2024) ‘The Rebel’s Clinic: The Revolutionary Lives of Frantz Fanon’.
Despite the puffy face and the sustained pain of the consequences of that wisdom tooth extraction on Monday, I just had to see Andrew Macmillan read from his novel ‘Pity‘. I blogged on his novel soon after it came out [see this link], even though the Bounds Bookshop at Whitley Bay is a long journey … More I learned that to hear the voice of some people you love for their writing is a joy.
‘History is all omissions and distortions of the truth’.[1] Would there be any point in writing a novel using evidence of facts from queer history, if the truth was easily sifted from the lies? This is a very brief blog on Neil Blackmore (2023: 272) Radical Love London, Hutchinson. This blog is just a speculation … More ‘History is all omissions and distortions of the truth’. Would there be any point in writing a novel using evidence of facts from queer history, if the truth was easily sifted from the lies? This is a very brief blog on Neil Blackmore (2023: 272) ‘Radical Love’
What is the biggest challenge you will face in the next six months? Have you ever noticed how sometimes little but immediate ‘challenges’ take your mind off the long term ones – even if we count the ‘next six months’ as long-term or not. And this is the case for me today. For today I … More My challenge – I can’t think of six months ahead: only today’s wisdom tooth extraction.
The Three Fates: Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos, 1558-59. After Giulio Romano. Artist Giorgio Ghisi. (Heritage Art/Heritage Images via Getty Images) Available at: https://historydaily.org/three-fates-greek-mythology This is a deceptive prompt question. It pretends to be about whether the respondents believes in the ‘existence’ of ‘fate/destiny’, in the same way one might ask whether one BELIEVES in GOD, … More If there were a ‘fate’ or ‘destiny’ in our lives, would it matter if we believed in it or not?
This is blog is about seeing the Southbank Hayward Gallery’s modern historical and contemporary sculpture exhibition on 21st January 2024 When Forms Come Alive. This is the second follow-up blog to one introducing my day trip: For other parts use links here: Part 1 General Introduction & Part 2: On Auerbach’s Charcoal Heads The Hayward Gallery … More This is blog is about seeing the Hayward Gallery’s sculpture exhibition on 21st January 2024 ‘When Forms Come Alive’.
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