List 10 things you know to be absolutely certain. That nothing is certain beyond the impossibility of certainty is the only truth that we must hold on to. The rest is wishful or magical thinking. We may need that but it is only confused with a way of shaping destinies in the most unhelpful faith … More Impossible questions
‘I feel myself at some undefined point, insane for my own safety and wanting to hide’.[1] Love, Leda (written probably in 1965 but only just published) is a not a novel about the repression of gay male identity in the 1960s and its consequences in anomie, mental ill health, and suicide, though, of course, it … More ‘I feel myself at some undefined point, insane for my own safety and wanting to hide’. ‘Love, Leda’ by Mark Hyatt (written probably in 1965 but only just published) is a not a novel about the repression of gay male identity in the 1960s and its consequences in anomie, mental ill health, and suicide, though, of course, it is that too. At its heart is the concept of the ‘truest non-loving lover’; because it is a term impossible to define outside of those questions.
‘Books are difficult to tidy. … They resist’.[1] In this blog I say that in his latest book, Ian McEwan returns to form by asking as directly as a novel can how significant art might be attained out of the mess of the politics, ethics and socio-cultural and individual lives of generations of people of … More ‘Books are difficult to tidy. … They resist’. Ian McEwan returns to form by asking as directly as a novel can how significant art might be attained out of the mess of the politics, ethics and socio-cultural and individual lives of generations of people of our current time and age. This is a blog on Ian McEwan (2022) ‘Lessons’ as, perhaps, a new ‘spirit of the Age’[2].
Source: By http://www.smith.edu/libraries/libs/rarebook/exhibitions/images/penandpress/large/15c_bta.jpg, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=19429923 In Virginia Woolf’s Between the Acts (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Between_the_Acts), the crisis of the life of Miss La Trobe, the creator of a pageant of English life that ends by turning a literal mirror of their life takes place in reflection afterwards in the village pub of the events in and between … More Between the Blogs
‘On not finishing. … Like the person who does not say goodbye, but instead exits untainted by valediction. Of course they could finish but they choose simply to stop. And only afterward do you come to realize the transitory was in fact the terminus, the passage the limit, the process the finale. Little did you … More ‘On not finishing. … Like the person who does not say goodbye, but instead exits untainted by valediction.’ This is a blog on Christopher Neve (2023) ‘Immortal Thoughts: Late Style in a Time of Plague’.
On what subject(s) are you an authority? Authority is I suppose the right of the maker of something, an author in fact, to descriptively name and evaluate that thing they made. Milton wrote a great and long poem, Paradise Lost, though to show that even God gets his creation wrong and that other perspectives, especially … More Want the truth? Authority is an illusion of power and inequality bolstered by bad education.
untitled f*ck m*ss s**gon play is a very intense examination of the images and stereotypes that justify the Western racist values we name orientalism and which lodge in the memory, especially of women, but it is also a very funny play in which some of the victims of the sexual imperialism of the West impacts … More This is a blog-review on Lee Kimber (2023) ‘untitled f*ck m*ss s**gon play’ performed at Manchester Royal Exchange.
What’s your definition of romantic? The romantic is a sensually and imaginatively heightened form of interaction between people, although I sometimes feel it is mainly a narcissistic experience entirely for some and a little for everyone. It elevates the physical sensation so it isn’t the opposite of the embodied or ‘sexual’. It engages the mind … More A heightened form of interaction between people.
An update based on actually seeing the exhibition of Yayoi Kusama at Factory International Manchester on Tuesday 4th July at 11.15 a.m., as part of a selection of the items from the Manchester International Festival. The original blog available at this link. It could not have been a worse morning. Suddenly deep in a low … More An update based on actually seeing the exhibition of Yayoi Kusama at Factory International Manchester on Tuesday 4th July at 11.15 a.m., as part of a selection of the items from the Manchester International Festival.
An update based on actually seeing the production of The Faggots & Their Friends Between Revolutions (based on the cult book of that name by Larry Mitchell & illustrated by Ned Asta. A brilliant show at Home Theatre 1 in Manchester on Sunday 2nd July at 3.00 p.m., as part of a selection of the … More An update based on actually seeing the production of ‘The Faggots & Their Friends Between Revolutions’ (based on the cult book of that name by Larry Mitchell & illustrated by Ned Asta). A brilliant show at Home Theatre 1 in Manchester on Sunday 2nd July at 3.00 p.m., as part of a selection of the items from the Manchester International Festival.
‘The pain of his childhood was of such a common source that it embarrassed him. … they all had the same pain, the same hurt, and he didn’t think anyone should go around pretending it was something more than it was: the routine operation of the universe. Small common things – hurt feelings, cruel parents, … More This is a blog on using art to build a culture within queer communities. It’s also a blog about Brandon Taylor (2023) ‘The Late Americans’, a great novel IMO.
How important is spirituality in your life? I would have to start by saying that I don’t believe there is anything essential signified by the word ‘spirit’. There is no thinginess or essence in other words that equates with ‘spirit’. Instead it is a sign that we believe that the meaning of objects, animate and … More The spirit gives a life and meaning to the forces that animate material objects
Steve_Bamlett_blog 
