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.

“Everything I had willingly drawn was female. But here, through these coal-mine drawings, I discovered the male figure and the qualities of the figure in action”. How a concern with sex / gender manifest itself in Moore’s mining drawings. This blog looks at Chris Owen (2022) ‘Drawing In The Dark: Henry Moore’s Coalmining Commission’.

November 15, 2023

“Everything I had willingly drawn was female. But here, through these coal-mine drawings, I discovered the male figure and the qualities of the figure in action. As a sculptor I had previously believed only in static forms, that is, forms in repose”.[1] Henry Moore said this when talking to James Sweeney in 1947. It suggests … More “Everything I had willingly drawn was female. But here, through these coal-mine drawings, I discovered the male figure and the qualities of the figure in action”. How a concern with sex / gender manifest itself in Moore’s mining drawings. This blog looks at Chris Owen (2022) ‘Drawing In The Dark: Henry Moore’s Coalmining Commission’.

“I’m nobody! Who are you? / Are you nobody, too?”

November 14, 2023

Who is the most famous or infamous person you have ever met? Daily prompt Emily Dickinson is quite ‘somebody’ nowadays. I haven’t met her though I read her work frequently and THAT IS A KIND OF MEETING. I think it is unlikely that you, dear Reader (surely there’s one of you! La!) have met her … More “I’m nobody! Who are you? / Are you nobody, too?”

To be a palimpsest of impressions.

November 13, 2023

What’s the first impression you want to give people? Daily prompt Codex ephremi (The S.S. Teacher’s Edition-The Holy Bible – Plate XXIV).Source is Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=36972 Ancient manuscripts were written on parchment (though an even more ancient writing surface – the wax-coated tablet of stone was the origin of the idea of writing as making … More To be a palimpsest of impressions.

‘Even if I knew all the causes determining a need to act in a certain way, it would be wrong to trust any one of them without reflection and planning my decision-making’.

November 12, 2023

Do you trust your instincts? Daily writing prompt I have tried in my long-winded rewritten title to re-frame this question in a way that allowed me to answer it. There were two problems for me in its terms and a larger one in its possible assumptions. Let’s take the terms first: These images tell you … More ‘Even if I knew all the causes determining a need to act in a certain way, it would be wrong to trust any one of them without reflection and planning my decision-making’.

What are the issues related to the representation or not of cis queer men in contemporary novels that make the representation of young male working class in terms of their cis masculine heterosexual development a focus? From Graeme Armstrong’s (2020) ‘The Young Team’ to Michael Magee’s (2023) ‘Close to Home’.

November 11, 2023

What are the issues related to the representation or not of cis queer men in contemporary novels that make the representation of young male working class in terms of their cis masculine heterosexual development a focus? From Graeme Armstrong’s (2020) The Young Team to Michael Magee’s (2023) Close to Home (with a bow to queer … More What are the issues related to the representation or not of cis queer men in contemporary novels that make the representation of young male working class in terms of their cis masculine heterosexual development a focus? From Graeme Armstrong’s (2020) ‘The Young Team’ to Michael Magee’s (2023) ‘Close to Home’.

Life is ‘a pathway literally strewn with “subjects”. … It must do us good – it’s all so hideous,” …

November 10, 2023

What was your favorite subject in school? I take my title from Henry James’ What Maisie Knew, a wondrous novel in which a little girl (Maisie of course) is exposed to the hidden facts of illicit adult sexual liaisons and the secret knowledge about adult life they normatively occult from children in the interests of … More Life is ‘a pathway literally strewn with “subjects”. … It must do us good – it’s all so hideous,” …

In an interview with Anthony Cummins, Teju Cole says that: ‘… what I wanted was the maximal complexity of thinking in the clearest language that would support that thinking. Being avant garde isn’t about being unreadable’. Teju Cole is clearly a novelist for whom complex thought matters. This blog is on Teju Cole (2023) ‘Tremor’.

November 9, 2023

In an interview with Anthony Cummins, Teju Cole says that: ‘… what I wanted was the maximal complexity of thinking in the clearest language that would support that thinking. Being avant garde isn’t about being unreadable’.[1] Teju Cole is clearly a novelist for whom complex thought matters. Let’s ask ourselves how and why thinking in … More In an interview with Anthony Cummins, Teju Cole says that: ‘… what I wanted was the maximal complexity of thinking in the clearest language that would support that thinking. Being avant garde isn’t about being unreadable’. Teju Cole is clearly a novelist for whom complex thought matters. This blog is on Teju Cole (2023) ‘Tremor’.

‘Give me just a little more time’, before you go. As go you must!

November 8, 2023

Do you need time? In the 1970s we crooned about wanting ‘a little more time’ all the time to try and rectify we things we did too hastily or other things we did without  thinking out the consequences. One that sticks in my mind is a group of nattily and glittery dressed not-so-young men called … More ‘Give me just a little more time’, before you go. As go you must!

To propose is not to dispose

November 7, 2023

What will your life be like in three years? Man Proposes, God Disposes depicts an imagined Arctic scene in the aftermath of  Sir John Franklin‘s expedition in 1845 to explore the Northwest Passage but lost in the process. It is by Edwin Landseer – 1864 painting, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=9065315 Edwin Landseer’s Man Proposes, God disposes of 1864 is supposedly a lesson … More To propose is not to dispose

Middle East and North African Art. A fine exhibition at the Durham Oriental Museum, Durham University.

November 5, 2023

Middle East and North African Art, the cult of Orientalism, Western stereotypes of Arab art and the culture of resistance. Voices: A fine exhibition at the Durham Oriental Museum, Durham University. 29 September 2023 – 12 May 2024 Let’s start off with a theme and it would seem to me on first sight that there … More Middle East and North African Art. A fine exhibition at the Durham Oriental Museum, Durham University.