To mitigate the fact of being ‘born in moral stupidity, taking the world as an udder to feed our supreme selves’.

December 3, 2023

There could never be only one thing that I might wish to change in the conduct of my life but, to tell the truth, I think the notion anyway of doing it by changing something you think of as a unified, integrated and whole ‘self’ is, in part at least, more of a fiction than … More To mitigate the fact of being ‘born in moral stupidity, taking the world as an udder to feed our supreme selves’.

‘“You mustn’t allow yourself to think like that … even when you’re depressed. And is everything really so bad?” She adopted a light tone’. A blog on John Broderick (1985) ‘The Rose Tree’.

December 2, 2023

‘“You mustn’t allow yourself to think like that … even when you’re depressed. And is everything really so bad?” She adopted a light tone’.[1]The saddest art is that in which you can only ‘allow yourself to think’ the worst. A blog on John Broderick (1985) The Rose Tree London, Marion Boyars Publishers. Irish history is … More ‘“You mustn’t allow yourself to think like that … even when you’re depressed. And is everything really so bad?” She adopted a light tone’. A blog on John Broderick (1985) ‘The Rose Tree’.

“It’s Sodom, darling, worth committing to memory”. This is a blog on Justin Torres (2023) ‘Blackouts’.

November 30, 2023

“It’s Sodom, darling, worth committing to memory’.[1] In this story a person who is thought to look as if they are ‘on the lam’ (on the run from the law) learns some of the ways a fugitive may run and hide from a society that otherwise criminalises and/or pathologises them.[2] This sometimes means a choice … More “It’s Sodom, darling, worth committing to memory”. This is a blog on Justin Torres (2023) ‘Blackouts’.

The binding force of ‘technologies of self’. Better off without ’em.

November 29, 2023

What technology would you be better off without, why? According to Foucault, the modern management of self is to accentuate the ‘exomologesis’ (or dramatic demonstration) of the negation of  self in one big exaggerated monologue (actually it’s ‘exagoresis’ but ‘exaggerated monologue’ is smarter) in which you talk about  your self-abasement to what is and has … More The binding force of ‘technologies of self’. Better off without ’em.

‘… ; she knew it was everything not to die alone, not to be taken brutally, by force. …/ … What could she give him now? She knew what he would want from her: that stillness might grow to peace. Not still: held’. This blog attempts to explain what we materialists owe to Anne Michaels (2023) ‘Held’.

November 27, 2023

‘… ; she knew it was everything not to die alone, not to be taken brutally, by force. …/ … What could she give him now? She knew what he would want from her: that stillness might grow to peace. Not still: held’.[1] Only when we are held do we know that our stillness is … More ‘… ; she knew it was everything not to die alone, not to be taken brutally, by force. …/ … What could she give him now? She knew what he would want from her: that stillness might grow to peace. Not still: held’. This blog attempts to explain what we materialists owe to Anne Michaels (2023) ‘Held’.

I love Daisy

November 26, 2023

What are your favorite animals? I have given up with these daily prompts but I have to honour my old doggy, Daisy, given the opportunity, even if I still have to bend the question to my own purposes. Let’s do it by pictures only: There is no doubt that she is camera shy. A friend … More I love Daisy

My visit to the National Portrait Gallery’s (NPG) exhibition Drawing from Life on Tuesday 22nd November and reading of the catalogue, Sarah Howgate [ed.] (2023) ‘David Hockney: drawing from life’.

November 25, 2023

Drawing from Life for a portrait artist is rarely about ‘struggling for a likeness’ according to David Hockney – what a person is  ‘like’, the ways of understanding what a person is like and how we show what a person is like each change, and, as each does so, interact with and change each other … More My visit to the National Portrait Gallery’s (NPG) exhibition Drawing from Life on Tuesday 22nd November and reading of the catalogue, Sarah Howgate [ed.] (2023) ‘David Hockney: drawing from life’.

Marina Abramović: but essentially the artist is absent. The conceptual pitfalls of a beautiful show.

November 22, 2023

I wrote a blog in preparation for this show. You can read it if you wish at this link: https://livesteven.com/2023/10/29/this-blog-is-my-preparation-to-see-the-retrospective-exhibition-on-the-work-of-marina-abramovic-at-the-royal-academy-the-first-held-there-on-a-female-artist-in-london-on-22nd-november-i-prepared-by/. Some things I guessed but got wrong. On entering we are first confronted by The Artist is Present (2011) which fills an entire room. But it is, in the bodily absence of stills as I … More Marina Abramović: but essentially the artist is absent. The conceptual pitfalls of a beautiful show.

April pierces to my root, no wonder we call him cruel.

November 21, 2023

What’s your favorite month of the year? Why? April is the cruellest month, breeding Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing Memory and desire, stirring Dull roots with spring rain. Winter kept us warm, covering Earth in forgetful snow, feeding A little life with dried tubers. T.S. Eliot ‘The Waste Land’, lines 1ff. For whole … More April pierces to my root, no wonder we call him cruel.

Durham: a cathedral, a castle and a prison – and a river runs through it.

November 20, 2023

What is your favorite place to go in your city? The front of the then School of Education, Durham University Soon after I moved to County Durham I studied for a PGCE in teaching English and Drama. Those portals to teaching were taught in then School of Education in Durham University in the College of … More Durham: a cathedral, a castle and a prison – and a river runs through it.