A day at the Edinburgh Festival: A blog 14th August 2024 Maybe I over-prepare for my days out. Certainly, I overfill them – but it saves the longueurs of loneliness in a city. Here at least is the programme as already recorded on my phone on the 13th August. The day has arrived. I am.on … More 14th August 2024: Steven’s day at the Edinburgh Festival, a blog.
The history of which Thom Gunn was a queer part is one that is still alive but less predominant in modern queer culture, except in enclaves where the most important thing for a queer man is asserting that their queer identity still makes them MEN in essence, even if they also believe that being a … More ‘Stripped to indifference at the turns of time’ (1): Thom Gunn, life, love, and even poetry, in queer history. This blog reflects on Michael Nott (2024) ‘Thom Gunn: A Cool Queer Life’.
‘There’s the Greek word ekphrasis, the literary description of an image, the visual made verbal – often in a way as to vivify and dramatise that image. Ekphrasis, in its verb form, means to ‘proclaim or call an inanimate objects by name’. Samantha Harvey says she wanted to ‘call up’ that object, ‘the earth’ and … More ‘Call up’ that object, ‘the earth’ and make out of its silence otherwise on the page ‘thunder and music’. This is a blog on Samantha Harvey (2024 paperback ed.) ‘Orbital’.
‘I think therefore I am’, the philosopher said, but he only became Rene Descartes by writing those words, or ones translatable into that English statement, and allowing them to be thoughtfully written about ever since. Thinking is an entirely invisible thing on its own and hard to evidence, except in language. Sometimes spoken language hardens … More Stuff Descartes! I write, therefore I will be ….
List 30 things that make you happy. In Michael Nott’s 2024 biography of the poet Thom Gunn, the man closest to him throughout his life, Mike Kitay, is quoted as saying of Thom first that, ‘He was probably depressed but he would never say that to anyone. He would never act depressed. He would always … More In Michael Nott’s 2024 biography of the poet Thom Gunn, the man closest to him throughout his life is quoted as saying of Thom, “He needed people to think he was happy. … But sometimes, when no one else was around, ….”.
‘To be a witness, to stand alongside, simply to have lived through these strange, beautiful appalling times, to have been a night-light, a mirror, a support – ….’. [1] This is a blog on Claire Messud (2024) This Strange Eventful History: A Novel London, Fleet. Perhaps, one ought to be alert to the strangeness of … More ‘To be a witness, to stand alongside, simply to have lived through these strange, beautiful appalling times, to have been a night-light, a mirror, a support – ….’. This is a blog on Claire Messud (2024) This Strange Eventful History: A Novel’
In interview available in the DVD version of this film, Wim Wenders says that ‘Too much story is a disaster’. That is because, as he suggests in an interview available with the recently published DVD, too obvious manipulation of plot interferes with the process of an audience being able to ‘enter into’ the filmic artists … More This blog is an attempt to understand why Wim Wenders thinks ‘Too much story is a disaster’ in speaking of his film ‘Perfect Days’ (2023), starring the wondrous Koji Yakusho.
Look! Is it a camel or a whale? Believe it or not the ‘most commonly used words in English have been tested against an authoritative body of samples (see Wikipedia on this here), called by linguists a ‘corpus’ and the most used word is ‘the’. The list goes down a long way before we confront … More Avoid asking people to LOOK! when you can’t see for looking!
CONTAINS SPOILERS! “…, what’s the point of having good things if you can’t touch them?” And Isabel would answer: “They are not for touching. They are for keeping.”[1] The Safekeep is well titled since it is a book about why we attempt to guard from others those things we find most precious, keeping them locked … More ‘The Safekeep’ is well titled since it is a book about why we attempt to guard from others those things we find most precious, keeping them locked from the touch of strangers. This is a blog on Yael Van Der Wouden (2024) The Safekeep: A Novel
The Nile Delta city of Naukratis: By ChrisO (talk) – self-made, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=16176388 Amasis II became Pharaoh in Egypt (reigning 570–526 BC) by the aid of Greek soldiers. This was a blessing and a curse, because reliant on a powerful foreign, and virtually stateless) army meant he might also be potentially under their control. … More Like Amasis II, I would open an emporium or shop where I accessed the best of culture but never lifted a finger to run it.
Charlotte Wood told ABC News in Australia that, for her, writing is a vocation. “There is something sacred … or holy about it. When you’re fully engaged in it, when you’re fully absorbed in the practice of it, there is an almost prayer-like aspect”.[1] I think only Iris Murdoch has worked with materials of moral … More Charlotte Wood says, “There is something sacred … or holy about [writing]. When … you’re fully absorbed in the practice of it, there is an almost prayer-like aspect”. This is a blog on Charlotte Wood (2023) ‘Stone Yard Devotional’.
It is de rigueur these days to reduce sexual politics to matters concerning toilets. I suppose in the long term, we have to be grateful to the writing of J.K. Rowling intended for adults, however stunted, for something, even if it is only to draw attention to the vast importance of the sexing of toilet … More The Right Honorable Rachel Reeves is uncomfortable as Chancellor Of the Exchequer – because the toilets are not fashioned precisely for her sole use.
