Steve_Bamlett_blog

Written in drafting preparation for a longer piece: ‘Our life is a theophany.[1] … Reflecting on Seán Hewitt’s (2020a) Tongues of Fire London, Jonathon Cape. FOR NOW THEN: Partial piece: reading Callery Pear Hewitt (2020: 35) In a statement about this book, Hewitt summarises the connection in it of some key themes: the reflexive examination … More Partial piece: reading Seán Hewitt’s ‘Callery Pear’ in Hewitt’s ‘Tongues of Fire’ (2020: 35)

‘Try the occupation of your imagination.[1] … “End the Pre-Occupation”’. Reflecting on Colum McCann’s (2020) Apeirogon London, Bloomsbury Publishing. Certain words have power. Near the end of the novel whilst the Palestinian peace-campaigner, Bassam, a character based on interviews with the ‘real person’ of that name and role (shown above), speaks at a conference he … More ‘Try the occupation of your imagination. … “End the Pre-Occupation”’. Reflecting on Colum McCann’s (2020) ‘Apeirogon’: Booker 2020 Selection 1

‘Everywhere needs its creation myth’. Reflecting on Rishi Dastidar’s (2020) Saffron Jack Rugby, Nine Arches Press. …those of us from backgrounds where poetry writing is not a common way of spending time … are more familiar with the whisper, the critique, the rejection that, while the work is good, it is in some way lacking … More ‘Everywhere needs its creation myth’. Reflecting on Rishi Dastidar’s (2020) ‘Saffron Jack’

The Meaning of Exhibitions in major national collections: Reflecting on the absence of Sin in London between 15th April to 5th July. Stimulus for reflection Joost Joustra’s (2020) Sin: The Art of Transgression London, National Gallery Company Ltd. Mark Brown’s preview of this exhibition in December for The Guardian uses the title, ‘National Gallery Hopes … More The Meaning of Exhibitions in major national collections: Reflecting on the absence of Sin in London between 15th April to 5th July. Joustra’s (2020) ‘Sin: The Art of Transgression’

1st draft to be reviewed when I have energy. May be lots of errors. “Still … something to resolve”: Unending incompletion in Temple Drake (aka Rupert Thomson) [2020] ‘NVK’ London, Titan Books. They have the best stories too – … In a typical zhiguai, a mode of expression now viewed as giving a voice to … More “Still … something to resolve”: Unending incompletion in Temple Drake (aka Rupert Thomson) [2020] ‘NVK’ London, Titan Books.

Managing the ‘discipline, that really mad level of self-control’.[1] Gay Fictional Autobiography and social change in Adam Mars-Jones (2020) Box Hill: A Story of Low Self-Esteem London, Fitzcarroldo Editions. A fictional autobiography is a novel in which a fictional persona tells part of their life-story ending at the moment the novel is written. For this … More Managing the ‘discipline, that really mad level of self-control’. Gay Fictional Autobiography and social change in Adam Mars-Jones (2020) ‘Box Hill: A Story of Low Self-Esteem’

‘… excited, with no cause that the wit can define’.[1] Charlotte Peacock’s (2017) Into The Mountain: A Life of Nan Shepherd Cambridge, Galileo Publishers. We never write a life: we, or least Charlotte Peacock, writes the meaning of the patch of time between life and death. This large project starts with smaller acts in which … More ‘… excited, with no cause that the wit can define’.[1] Charlotte Peacock’s (2017) ‘Into The Mountain: A Life of Nan Shepherd’

‘I can smell him from across the room’[1]: Alex Allison (2019) ‘The Art of the Body’ London, Dialogue Books. Making art from unacknowledged ambivalence between desire and disgust about the body for the 21st Century. ‘I can smell him from across the room’. This is a brief sentence that tells us very little, say for … More ‘I can smell him from across the room’: Alex Allison (2019) ‘The Art of the Body’ London, Dialogue Books.

Articulating ‘queer speaking silence’[1]: Queer reflections on desire and sex/gender in Sebastian Barry’s (2020) A Thousand Moons London, Faber & Faber. OR “Longing for something I had no lingo for, …”.[2] One of the most disappointing of the features of the reviews of this book was their use the fact that this book is a … More Articulating ‘queer speaking silence’: Queer reflections on desire and sex/gender in Sebastian Barry’s (2020) ‘A Thousand Moons’

Reading Danez Smith – ‘Don’t Call Us Dead: Poems’ (2018 UK, Chatto & Windus, London) & ‘Homie: poems’ (title for brothers, my nig , not to be said out loud by white people) [2020 USA, Minneapolis, Graywolf Press).               this book was titled homie because I don’t want non-black people to say my nig out … More Reading Danez Smith – ‘Don’t Call Us Dead: Poems’ (2018) & ‘Homie: poems’ (2020).

‘Snow, snow, snow / is how the snow speaks, / is how the page reads.’[1] in Simon Armitage’s (2020) Magnetic Field: The Marsden Poems  London, Faber & Faber;  “… carved into the rocky escarpment on the exposed flank of Pule Hill, …. Thus far it’s the only one to be vandalised.’[2] Reading inscriptions in stone … More ‘Snow, snow, snow / is how the snow speaks, / is how the page reads.’[1] in Simon Armitage’s (2020) ‘Magnetic Field: The Marsden Poems’

Queering the Apostolic Mission in Christos Tsiolkas’s (2020) Damascus London, Atlantic Books;  “… as if there were angels in him, wrestling for dominance”.[1] Romano-Greek inheritance of Χρήστος Τσιόλκας Section 1: Introduction: Wrestling in & with a book Wrestling with angels is an important motif in this book. In an Afterword, Tsiolkas, speaking of the writing … More Queering the Apostolic Mission in Christos Tsiolkas’ (2020) 'Damascus'; “… as if there were angels in him, wrestling for dominance”.