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.

James and John, due to be executed for ‘sodomy’, were visited by Charles Dickens. This is a blog on Chris Bryant (2024) ‘James and John: A True Story of Prejudice and Murder’.

May 18, 2024

James and John, due to be executed for ‘sodomy’, were visited by Charles Dickens and the editor of the Monthly Magazine for which he wrote under the pen-name, Boz. He wrote in his coverage of that visit of the look of men who ‘had nothing to expect from the mercy of the crown’ and who … More James and John, due to be executed for ‘sodomy’, were visited by Charles Dickens. This is a blog on Chris Bryant (2024) ‘James and John: A True Story of Prejudice and Murder’.

Consider legacy: the case of Jack Hilton’s ‘Caliban Shrieks’ (1935)

May 17, 2024

‘CALIBAN IS A MAN YOU SHOULD KNOW WELL. … He holds opinions about his rights; such foolishness he should overcome’.[1] This is a blog on Jack Hilton (with introductions  by Andrew McMillan & Jack Chadwick) [2024, but first published in 1935) Caliban Shrieks, Vintage Classics. Did Jack Hilton leave a legacy? If so, how should … More Consider legacy: the case of Jack Hilton’s ‘Caliban Shrieks’ (1935)

You could never know what doing a job is like by doing it for one day. Reflecting on ‘The Last Cage Down’, an exhibition of the survival of miner’s memories with the help Of Andrew McMillan’s ‘Pity’.

May 16, 2024

What’s a job you would like to do for just one day? You could never know what doing a job is like by doing it for one day. Reflecting on ‘The Last Cage Down’, an exhibition of the survival of miner’s memories with the help Of Andrew McMillan’s Pity. This blog comes from many other prompts … More You could never know what doing a job is like by doing it for one day. Reflecting on ‘The Last Cage Down’, an exhibition of the survival of miner’s memories with the help Of Andrew McMillan’s ‘Pity’.

‘At fifty-two, he knew himself to be a traitor to the class of his youth and a freak to his own moral understanding’. This blog reflects on Andrew O’Hagan (2024) ‘Caledonian Road’.

May 15, 2024

‘At fifty-two, he knew himself to be a traitor to the class of his youth and a freak to his own moral understanding’.[1]When a literary intelligentsia loses faith in its own social purpose and integrity, the fate of the ‘state-of-the-nation’ novel is to betray the backward-looking values of the perspectives that attempt both  to assess … More ‘At fifty-two, he knew himself to be a traitor to the class of his youth and a freak to his own moral understanding’. This blog reflects on Andrew O’Hagan (2024) ‘Caledonian Road’.

You can’t escape the history of words, so my top favourite fruits are all wonderful queer men.

May 14, 2024

List your top 5 favorite fruits. To imagine a quintet of beautiful guys playing strings, you only have to look at the string quartet, Well Strung, and place amongst them the best person to interview them. Let’s go for Andrew Scott for only the intelligence of a great actor might do to bring out the … More You can’t escape the history of words, so my top favourite fruits are all wonderful queer men.

The evolution of types: Men in focus. A photo-essay.

May 13, 2024

As he contemplated marriage, he wondered how he ended up like this. After all, he rather fancied the padre. Tennyson dreamed of a classical torso somewhat fragmented, Dickens just dreamed. Hanif Kureishi was just glad he was neither a soldier or a lawyer. Shakespeare dreamed of a Longshanks as if he too were part of … More The evolution of types: Men in focus. A photo-essay.

Minor Autopoesis: learning a lesson from ‘Doctor Who’.

May 12, 2024

Minor Autopoesis: learning a lesson from Doctor Who. Autopoesis is a jargon term created from two Greek words to mean ‘self-making from within’. The Greek words are, as cited in Wikipedia, the words, αὐτo- (auto-) ‘self’, and ποίησις (poiesis) ‘creation, production’). For a time,  in art and literary criticism (in the 1990s) there was a … More Minor Autopoesis: learning a lesson from ‘Doctor Who’.

What does ‘positive impact’ mean? A story from another life not mine.

May 10, 2024

What does ‘positive impact’ mean? A story from another life not mine. Daniel wound his arms around himself and squeezed. Usually this kind of pressure seemed a kind of unctuous thing that created a flow of flesh and fat quivering through his body, as if the flesh around him were coiled like a snake, ready … More What does ‘positive impact’ mean? A story from another life not mine.

‘“What do you remember? Can you tell me?” This is a blog on Sunjeev Sahota (2024) ‘The Spoiled Heart’.

May 9, 2024

‘“What do you remember? Can you tell me?” / But it was clear from the disappointed fall of Pyara’s face, the slow release of his shoulder, that the past had given him the slip, that whichever thread his father had been clutching at had escaped, the memory unspooling into the night’.[1] This is a blog … More ‘“What do you remember? Can you tell me?” This is a blog on Sunjeev Sahota (2024) ‘The Spoiled Heart’.

The legitimisation of state and military power as tools of genocide by Benjamin Netanyahu.

May 8, 2024

As Israeli forces mount their early scoping attacks on Rafah that will lead to the death of vast numbers of displaced Gazans, asked to move there by the Israeli Defence Force (IDF), Benjamin Netanyahu, a man who can teach Donald Trump how to defend himself against a proven case for corruption and abuses of power … More The legitimisation of state and military power as tools of genocide by Benjamin Netanyahu.

I feel most ‘productive’ when I think about engaging with art that matters, and will survive me. A blog on preparing to see ‘mnemonic’ at The National Theatre in July.

May 7, 2024

When do you feel most productive? “…,the job of remembering is to reassemble, to literally re-member, put the relevant members back together, But, what I am getting at is the re-membering is essentially not only an act of retrieval, but a creative thing, it’s an act, an act . . . of the imagination”.[1]  Reading … More I feel most ‘productive’ when I think about engaging with art that matters, and will survive me. A blog on preparing to see ‘mnemonic’ at The National Theatre in July.