Autofictions are fictional life stories that look like an autobiography and have autobiographical elements from the author but are told about the life of a fictional character. Some openings of both autobiographies and autofictions are a kind of closure as well as an opening. They assume a summing up of self in some take on, … More ‘Why write me up’, said life to me: ‘I haven’t done with you yet’.
What experiences in life helped you grow the most? Do you remember this messianic moment in Toryism when Liz Truss announced her discovery of an ‘Anti-Growth Coalition’ in British politics and then forced her ideas into action causing widespread economic decline. The notion of ‘growth’ as the panacea of all ills ought to have had … More The dominance of aspirations to growth: the illusion of the economic and psychosocial versions of growth in capitalist societies.
Describe a phase in life that was difficult to say goodbye to. I think saying goodbye to the magic, which is never more than an illusory object of magical thinking, is lifelong. Magical thinking is that form of thinking in which wishes substitute for the realities they can’t in fact shape, or in some case … More Goodbye to the magic.
Despite the puffy face and the sustained pain of the consequences of that wisdom tooth extraction on Monday, I just had to see Andrew Macmillan read from his novel ‘Pity‘. I blogged on his novel soon after it came out [see this link], even though the Bounds Bookshop at Whitley Bay is a long journey … More I learned that to hear the voice of some people you love for their writing is a joy.
What is the biggest challenge you will face in the next six months? Have you ever noticed how sometimes little but immediate ‘challenges’ take your mind off the long term ones – even if we count the ‘next six months’ as long-term or not. And this is the case for me today. For today I … More My challenge – I can’t think of six months ahead: only today’s wisdom tooth extraction.
The Three Fates: Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos, 1558-59. After Giulio Romano. Artist Giorgio Ghisi. (Heritage Art/Heritage Images via Getty Images) Available at: https://historydaily.org/three-fates-greek-mythology This is a deceptive prompt question. It pretends to be about whether the respondents believes in the ‘existence’ of ‘fate/destiny’, in the same way one might ask whether one BELIEVES in GOD, … More If there were a ‘fate’ or ‘destiny’ in our lives, would it matter if we believed in it or not?
We are all bearers of our own contradictions. I am a desperate believer in the danger of the concept of elitism, yet I dislike the drive to blame élites (the word derives from the French meaning to select or sort out from the mass) – especially intellectual élites – for the malaise of the modern … More In truth, if we even just tried to understand ourselves when we feel inclined to say that we are ‘bored’, nothing would be ‘boring!’
If there was a biography about you, what would the title be? The title of my ‘Life’, as I prefer to call my auto fictional biography, would start with my childhood of course, something I addressed in a blog on the year of my birth, 1954 (see the blog at this link). The rather sentimental print … More “Hidden in a book: A Life wrapped in dust covers”.
Are you patriotic? What does being patriotic mean to you? I have blogged before using this quotation, actually from a Canadian poet, but used on the outer wall, and as an epigram, of the Scottish Houses of Parliament at Holyrood, Edinburgh, as if they were the original words of Scottish author (poet, novelist and dramatist), … More ‘Work as if you live in the early days of a better nation’
Are there any activities or hobbies you’ve outgrown or lost interest in over time? I can’t even remember the last time I willingly sat in a pub with a friend or group of other people and certainly can’t now remember why I found it a satisfying or pleasurable thing to do. As a boy, drinking … More Goodbye intoxicated outings.
The most important invention in your lifetime is… The term invention has an interesting etymology, for the idea of merely ‘coming upon’ or even ‘discovering’ (taking a cover from something previously hidden under that cover) is a relatively passive idea compared to the concept of ‘creation’, although in practice it involves activity of an equal … More Try this for ‘significant invention’! LOL. The decay of the idea of ‘invention’ and making space in the cosmos for the creative life-forces may be all that matters.
Describe your most ideal day from beginning to end. Night sweats the body until it awakes, unsure whether the flakes of skin it makes are signs or symptoms of some eternal loss, or something even more infernal. Consciousness follows on, and then some light Registers at eyes locked in sleep till tight with gunge, as, … More A bad start to my perfect day!
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