Tag: fiction

When Wordsworth said that ‘perhaps’ he did ‘not want’ a Redeemer as a refuge, did he think this was a job he could do for himself. That indeed would be a DIY project to wonder at! This is a blog on the book by Colum McCann with Diane Foley (2024) ‘American Mother’ as a book of redemption through story-telling art.

February 26, 2026

Wordsworth was sometimes called an Egoist in religion, usually from an an extrapolation from the following ‘evidence’, although but from a sub-clause in his case against Unitarianism and plea for the staid doctrines of the Established Church. The Unitarian Henry Crabb Robinson in his 1812 journal reported that Wordsworth told him that: “I can feel … More When Wordsworth said that ‘perhaps’ he did ‘not want’ a Redeemer as a refuge, did he think this was a job he could do for himself. That indeed would be a DIY project to wonder at! This is a blog on the book by Colum McCann with Diane Foley (2024) ‘American Mother’ as a book of redemption through story-telling art.

This blog is about a debut novel that, in my view, examines deliberate and / or necessary complications of what we mean by ‘being clear’, especially in the pursuit of physical satisfaction to selves full of yearning. You may guess this concerns an art that takes aspiring men and boys mainly as its subject matter, the debut novel being ‘Jean’ by Madeleine Dunnigan.

February 25, 2026

This blog is about a debut novel that, in my view, examines deliberate and / or necessary complications of what we mean by ‘being clear’, especially in the pursuit of physical satisfaction to selves full of yearning. You may guess this concerns an art that takes aspiring men and boys mainly as its subject matter, … More This blog is about a debut novel that, in my view, examines deliberate and / or necessary complications of what we mean by ‘being clear’, especially in the pursuit of physical satisfaction to selves full of yearning. You may guess this concerns an art that takes aspiring men and boys mainly as its subject matter, the debut novel being ‘Jean’ by Madeleine Dunnigan.

The notion that I must have a book in me and write it. Some thoughts prompted by giving up on completing reading the whole of Sacha Coward’s ‘Queer as Folklore: The Hidden History of Myths and Monsters’.

February 23, 2026

The notion that I must have a book in me and write it. Some thoughts prompted by giving up on completing reading the whole of Sacha Coward’s (2024) ‘Queer as Folklore: The Hidden History of Myths and Monsters‘, Manchester, Manchester University Press. Sacha Coward is a beautiful man (even dressed as a Nordic mer-creature) and … More The notion that I must have a book in me and write it. Some thoughts prompted by giving up on completing reading the whole of Sacha Coward’s ‘Queer as Folklore: The Hidden History of Myths and Monsters’.

‘Sometimes home is a place you have to discover or construct’. (p. 170). This blog is a reflection on a memoir by Mark Haddon (2026) ‘Leaving Home’.

February 20, 2026

‘Sometimes home is a place you have to discover or construct’ [1]. This blog is a reflection on a memoir by Mark Haddon (2026)’Leaving Home’, London, Chatto & Windus. I have blogged on Mark Haddon before, use the links to read these blogs if you wish: on the first chapter of The Porpoise, on The … More ‘Sometimes home is a place you have to discover or construct’. (p. 170). This blog is a reflection on a memoir by Mark Haddon (2026) ‘Leaving Home’.

If Édouard Louis were to answer this question, he would date his age and that of his parents not in conventional space or time but in the never-to-be-ended phenomenon of the ‘escape’ of each from the determination of the other, should that ever be possible. This is a blog on Édouard Louis (2024) ‘Monique Escapes’ (trans. John Lambert, 2026).London, Harvill, Vintage.

February 7, 2026

If Édouard Louis were to answer this question, he would date his age and that of his parents not in conventional space or time but in the never-to-be-ended phenomenon of the ‘escape’ of each from the determination of the other, should that ever be possible. This is a blog on Édouard Louis (2024) ‘Monique Escapes’ … More If Édouard Louis were to answer this question, he would date his age and that of his parents not in conventional space or time but in the never-to-be-ended phenomenon of the ‘escape’ of each from the determination of the other, should that ever be possible. This is a blog on Édouard Louis (2024) ‘Monique Escapes’ (trans. John Lambert, 2026).London, Harvill, Vintage.

Losing interest in ‘the double’ in the interests of the polymorphous. Do some themes in psycho-pathological fiction get overworked?: Using as a test case Graeme Macrae Burnet’s 2025 novel ‘Benbecula’.

February 6, 2026

Losing interest in ‘the double’ in the interests of the polymorphous. Do some themes in psycho-pathological fiction get overworked: Using as a test case Graeme Macrae Burnet’s 2025 novel Benbecula, Edinburgh, Polygon. I used to be fascinated by duality – that a thing we thought of as one thing was, in fact, two things: even … More Losing interest in ‘the double’ in the interests of the polymorphous. Do some themes in psycho-pathological fiction get overworked?: Using as a test case Graeme Macrae Burnet’s 2025 novel ‘Benbecula’.

There has never been a greater need to critique the assumption that ‘our world has changed’, than when it is used ‘to justify massive expenditure on the weapons industry again to keep us safe in the new era, the doorway, or threshold, of which is already blocked up with the brand new dead’. It’s always on our ‘to-do list’ but ‘never get’s done’. This is a blog on the urgent new (2026) novel by Ali Smith, ‘Glyph’.

February 4, 2026

There has never been a greater need to critique the assumption that ‘our world has changed’, than when it is used ‘to justify massive expenditure on the weapons industry again to keep us safe in the new era, the doorway, or threshold, of which is already blocked up with the brand new dead’.[1]  It’s always … More There has never been a greater need to critique the assumption that ‘our world has changed’, than when it is used ‘to justify massive expenditure on the weapons industry again to keep us safe in the new era, the doorway, or threshold, of which is already blocked up with the brand new dead’. It’s always on our ‘to-do list’ but ‘never get’s done’. This is a blog on the urgent new (2026) novel by Ali Smith, ‘Glyph’.

Feel the Fear but do it anyway! Confront ‘Femme-Couteau’: Louise Bourgeois on the ‘bad’, ‘good’ and ‘good-enough’ mother.

January 31, 2026

Yesterday I put online an admiring blog on the new (well!, newly translated to be accurate) biography of Louise Bourgeois (see it at this link) which in this translation is entitled Knife-Woman: The Life of Louise Bourgeois. There is no photograph of the artwork referenced by the title (‘Femme-Couteau’) which is meant to connote knfe … More Feel the Fear but do it anyway! Confront ‘Femme-Couteau’: Louise Bourgeois on the ‘bad’, ‘good’ and ‘good-enough’ mother.

Deconstructing a life that seems to circle around complaints by a creative woman about ‘family’: Is that the function of biography about a ‘knife woman’? This is another blog on the challenging art of the biographer with reference to Marie-Laure Bernadac [trans Lauren Elkin] (2026) ‘Knife-Woman: The Life of Louise Bourgeois’.

January 30, 2026

Deconstructing a life that seems to circle around complaints by a creative woman about ‘family’: Is that the function of biography about a ‘knife woman’? This is another blog on the challenging art of the biographer with reference to Marie-Laure Bernadac [trans Lauren Elkin] (2026) ‘Knife-Woman: The Life of Louise Bourgeois’. New Haven & London, … More Deconstructing a life that seems to circle around complaints by a creative woman about ‘family’: Is that the function of biography about a ‘knife woman’? This is another blog on the challenging art of the biographer with reference to Marie-Laure Bernadac [trans Lauren Elkin] (2026) ‘Knife-Woman: The Life of Louise Bourgeois’.

‘I’m not sure how I ended up here … and I see only blocks of text that are unclear like each word is fused into the next …’. Reading is an aspiration towards a communion.

January 24, 2026

Have you ever felt that so much depended on a reading of what is in front of you? I have just made a first reading – fast and furious – through the proof text of a novel not due for publication until, I think, September 2026, Derek Owusu’s The Recovery House, which will be published … More ‘I’m not sure how I ended up here … and I see only blocks of text that are unclear like each word is fused into the next …’. Reading is an aspiration towards a communion.

Is there a rationale or purpose for a queer reading of Benjamin Britten’s operatic drama, ‘Peter Grimes’?

January 20, 2026

Worthwhile modern readings which root Peter Grimes in the experience of Benjamin Britten as a queer man may be available, although I think Phillip Brett’s Cambridge monograph on the opera may have served as a last word on why it both requires that perspective and why it is insufficient to provide a satisfactory reading on its … More Is there a rationale or purpose for a queer reading of Benjamin Britten’s operatic drama, ‘Peter Grimes’?