‘”… we overload summer most out of all the seasons, I mean with our expectations of it.” “… Summers can take it. That’s why they’re called summers.”’ Reflecting on Ali Smith’s (2020) Summer London, Hamish Hamilton How long have we hoped for and expected the arrival of Summer? Since, at least, the Autumn of four … More “… Summers can take it. That’s why they’re called summers.”’ Reflecting on Ali Smith’s (2020) ‘Summer’ London, Hamish Hamilton

The ‘literary event’ and David Mitchell’s (2020) Utopia Avenue London, Sceptre Books, Hodder & Stoughton On the 14th July 2020, on the day of publication of Utopia Avenue , David Mitchell appeared with Claire Armistead, the latter moderating on behalf of The Guardian, in an online literary launch under the then Covid-19 conditions. David Mitchell … More The ‘literary event’ and David Mitchell’s (2020) ‘Utopia Avenue’

‘On borrowed time always, …. but every moment ae it pure electricity’.[1] A ‘heavy gay’ look at redeeming time in Graeme Armstrong’s (2020) The Young Team London, Picador. This is a difficult novel to talk about appropriately. My own training, which I often regret, in the reading and teaching of the tradition of the novel … More ‘On borrowed time always, …. but every moment ae it pure electricity’. A ‘heavy gay’ look at redeeming time in Graeme Armstrong’s (2020) ‘The Young Team’

PLEASE NOTE: This review contains spoilers. If you haven’t read the novel, and prefer discovering how the narrative unfolds for yourself, don’t read it. ‘I’d be like your girlfriend, or summat. I’d look after ya’.[1] Exploring what intersectional identity might mean in the queer novel. Paul Mendez’s (2020) Rainbow Milk London, Dialogue Books. Intersectional identity … More ‘I’d be like your girlfriend, or summat’. Exploring what intersectional identity might mean in the queer novel. Paul Mendez’s (2020) ‘Rainbow Milk’ London, Dialogue Books.

NOTE TO SELF: I’ve got this as far as I can and I doubt I’ll revise. Yet I do sense lots of problems remaining in my own prose. Still it is enough for what I want – to write out how this book seemed to me to work for my own understanding. If anyone else … More ‘”Queerness has an especially vexed relationship to evidence”’. Reflecting on why Mark Doty, a queer poet, insists on the queerness of the body of Walt Whitman’s verse in his reflection on the poet’s influence. (Doty, M. (2020) ‘What is the Grass: Walt Whitman in My Life’

“In low-class circles, more often than Latin, Greek was associated with extreme, other-worldly, intellectual prowess and arcane, even sinister arts”.[1]  A reader reflecting on themselves, why pearls shouldn’t be cast before swine and the world of the classics – reflexive reading of Edith Hall & Henry Stead (2020) A People’s History of Classics: Class and … More “In low-class circles, more often than Latin, Greek was associated with extreme, other-worldly, intellectual prowess and arcane, even sinister arts”.[1] A reader reflecting on themselves, why pearls shouldn’t be cast before swine and the world of the classics – reflexive reading of Edith Hall & Henry Stead (2020) A People’s History of Classics: Class and Greco-Roman Antiquity in Britain and Ireland 1689 to 1939

“Says he can’t believe how much I  look like her.” (εϊδωλον “image, likeness, simulacrum, replica, proxy, idol”): Reflecting on Anne Carson’s (2019) Norma Jeane Baker of Troy London, Oberon Books. A very waspish review of this play by Maya Phillips in The New York Times says that: … while Carson’s writing feels innovative and thematically … More “Says he can’t believe how much I look like her.” (εϊδωλον): Reflecting on Anne Carson’s (2019) ‘Norma Jeane Baker of Troy’ London, Oberon Books.

‘[D]etails, chopped up finely, reduced to the state of impalpable dust and arranged … as to multiply their effect many times over and together form an impression of a landscape’.[1] Visualising space in reading and recreating Guiseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa’s The Leopard. This blog is not what I intended, although it does try to look … More ‘[D]etails, chopped up finely, reduced to the state of impalpable dust and arranged … as to multiply their effect many times over and together form an impression of a landscape’. Visualising space in reading and recreating Lampedusa’s ‘The Leopard’.

Two blogs on the Bensons: No. 2 of 2: Writing the complexity of a family: Simon Goldhill (2016) A Very Queer Family Indeed: Sex, Religion and the Bensons in Victorian Britain Chicago & London, The University of Chicago Press. To see this blog use: https://stevebamlett.home.blog/2020/06/02/writing-the-complexity-of-a-family-simon-goldhill-2016-a-very-queer-family-indeed-sex-religion-and-the-bensons-1-of-2-blogs/ How then do we read novels queerly, avoiding oversimplifying categories? … More How then do we read novels queerly, avoiding oversimplifying categories? Reading E. F. Benson (1916) ‘David Blaize’.

Two blogs on the Bensons: No. 1 of 2: Writing the complexity of a family: Simon Goldhill (2016) A Very Queer Family Indeed: Sex, Religion and the Bensons in Victorian Britain Chicago & London, The University of Chicago Press How then do we read novels queerly, avoiding oversimplifying categories? Reading E. F. Benson (1916) David … More Writing the complexity of a family: Simon Goldhill (2016) ‘A Very Queer Family Indeed: Sex, Religion and the Bensons’ (1 of 2 blogs)

“Possible failure or disaster seemed to lurk round every corner: … Why on earth does one go submitting oneself to such torments?”[1] Creativity and imminent disaster in Stanley Cursiter: reporting on Beasant, P. (2007) Stanley Cursiter: a life of the artist Kirkwall, Orkney Museums and Heritage I’d like to start with the usual personalised note, … More “Possible failure or disaster seemed to lurk round every corner: … Why on earth does one go submitting oneself to such torments?” Creativity and imminent disaster in Stanley Cursiter: reporting on Beasant, P. (2007) ‘Stanley Cursiter’