Tag: fiction

Should we ever regret taking the risk of giving a straight answer to a queer question? In her new novel, ‘My Year in Paris with Gertrude Stein: a fiction’, Deborah Levy examines, amongst other things why: ‘Stein had put so much in the way. In the way of understanding. She did not believe in it’. The narrator of the novel continually asks: ‘What is it?’ of numerous ‘its’ that are so often getting lost to good, ill or mixed ends. What’s wrong with being always understood?

April 26, 2026

Should we ever regret taking the risk of not giving a straight answer to a queer question? In My Year in Paris with Gertrude Stein: a fiction, Deborah Levy examines, amongst other things why: ‘Stein had put so much in the way. In the way of understanding. She did not believe in it’. [1] The … More Should we ever regret taking the risk of giving a straight answer to a queer question? In her new novel, ‘My Year in Paris with Gertrude Stein: a fiction’, Deborah Levy examines, amongst other things why: ‘Stein had put so much in the way. In the way of understanding. She did not believe in it’. The narrator of the novel continually asks: ‘What is it?’ of numerous ‘its’ that are so often getting lost to good, ill or mixed ends. What’s wrong with being always understood?

Making you the man of nerve or nerves you are: from hard resilience to soft and fearful retreat. A case study based on Nicholas Boggs (2026) ‘Baldwin: A  Love Story’ and the import he detects in Baldwin’s role as director of ‘Düşenin Dostu’ (‘Friend of the Fallen’ in English), the Turkish version of John Herbert’s ‘Fortune and Men’s Eyes’ in Istanbul.

April 21, 2026

Making you the man of nerve you are: from hard resilience to soft retreat. A case study based on Nicholas Boggs (2026) Baldwin: A  Love Story and the import he detects in Baldwin’s role as director of Düşenin Dostu (Friend of the Fallen in English), the Turkish version with its tellingly moralistic new Turkish title, of … More Making you the man of nerve or nerves you are: from hard resilience to soft and fearful retreat. A case study based on Nicholas Boggs (2026) ‘Baldwin: A  Love Story’ and the import he detects in Baldwin’s role as director of ‘Düşenin Dostu’ (‘Friend of the Fallen’ in English), the Turkish version of John Herbert’s ‘Fortune and Men’s Eyes’ in Istanbul.

‘Man measured his words like food and decided what was worth opening his mouth for’. Words and food in Derek Owusu (2026) ‘Hunger Pains’ for The Reading Agency Quick Reads.

April 18, 2026

‘Man measured his words like food and decided what was worth opening his mouth for’.[1] No-one measures his words like Derek Owusu, and no writer has pursued the link between food and the ‘matter’ that is, as in Hamlet (Act 2, Scene 2, 204ff.), ‘Words, words, words’, (whether spoken or written) like him since Shakespeare. … More ‘Man measured his words like food and decided what was worth opening his mouth for’. Words and food in Derek Owusu (2026) ‘Hunger Pains’ for The Reading Agency Quick Reads.

‘Where do you see yourself in ten years?’: This stock question in job interviews is at the root of a society that has no other standards than narcissism and magical thinking.

April 13, 2026

‘Where do you see yourself in ten years?’: This stock question in job interviews is at the root of a society that has no other standards than narcissism and magical thinking. Karl Stevens’ response above to imagining the stock job interview questionin our prompt – though the version he uses features a shorter duration of … More ‘Where do you see yourself in ten years?’: This stock question in job interviews is at the root of a society that has no other standards than narcissism and magical thinking.

The idea of the exception that stands out from a plethora of forgettable random encounters should be now recognised as the trope of what we used to call the sexual revolution in the short term or the ‘Crisis of Faith’ in the longer term.

April 12, 2026

The idea of the exception that stands out from a plethora of forgettable random encounters should be now recognised as the trope of what we used to call the sexual revolution in the short term or the ‘Crisis of Faith’ in the longer term. This blog should, perhaps, be treated as an interim reader’s ‘report’ … More The idea of the exception that stands out from a plethora of forgettable random encounters should be now recognised as the trope of what we used to call the sexual revolution in the short term or the ‘Crisis of Faith’ in the longer term.

I read this book and it changes you. This blog considers the short stories in Colm Tóibín (2026) ‘The News From Dublin’.

April 10, 2026

I read this book and it changes you. ‘In his preface to The Spoils of Poynton, Henry James talks about this idea of a “germ”, what he called “a mere floating particle in the stream of talk”, something that “has the virus of suggestion”. Life, as James would have it, is “all inclusion and confusion”, just as art is … More I read this book and it changes you. This blog considers the short stories in Colm Tóibín (2026) ‘The News From Dublin’.

If a work of art in words is worth reading, you will have never finally or completely read it – you will always be reading it. Deciding to continue reading ‘All My Sons’ by Arthur Miller in preparation for seeing Ivo Van Hove’s version of it live-streamed on 16th April 2026.

April 5, 2026

If a work of art in words is worth reading, you will have never finally or completely read it – you will always be reading it. Deciding to continue reading ‘All My Sons’ by Arthur Miller in preparation for seeing Ivo Van Hove’s version of it live-streamed on 16th April 2026. The reason I am … More If a work of art in words is worth reading, you will have never finally or completely read it – you will always be reading it. Deciding to continue reading ‘All My Sons’ by Arthur Miller in preparation for seeing Ivo Van Hove’s version of it live-streamed on 16th April 2026.

‘… but that was in another country; / And besides the wench is dead.’ Let’s make our diversity our common unity and not ‘other’ those of ‘another country’, if that was ever possible. An answer based on a case study reading of the novel by James Baldwin, ‘Another Country’.

April 3, 2026

… but that was in another country; / And besides the wench is dead.’ Let’s make our diversity our common unity and not ‘other’ those of ‘another country’, if that was ever possible. An answer based on a case study reading of the novel by James Baldwin, Another Country. This will turn into an answer … More ‘… but that was in another country; / And besides the wench is dead.’ Let’s make our diversity our common unity and not ‘other’ those of ‘another country’, if that was ever possible. An answer based on a case study reading of the novel by James Baldwin, ‘Another Country’.

How do we travel the distance between us? Seeing the film ‘Midwinter Break’.

March 31, 2026

How do we travel the distance between us? Seeing the film Midwinter Break at the new Reel cinema, Bishop Auckland at 1 p.m. on Monday 30th March 2026. Let’s pause for a moment to acknowledge that the key flashback in Midwinter Break is to a moment in which the Northern Irish troubles hit the lives … More How do we travel the distance between us? Seeing the film ‘Midwinter Break’.

I can’t choose one. Words fail me to describe them.

March 30, 2026

With thanks to this webpage (see its Summary in Appendix below) from Phrase Dictionary You took me on a roller-coaster ride,Unlocked a treasure-chest, you bravely triedTo tell me ’twas a journey deep insideMy heart: it opens, you said, the doors wideTo go behind the mirror where you hide.You puzzle me to think again. I criedIn … More I can’t choose one. Words fail me to describe them.

Say No! Why should we give way and surrender all of our Delusions for the sake of order! ‘We are not asking for permission to belong any more, not from a silent universe …’ The delusory command to ‘Abandon all Delusions all You who enter here’ and Processing who will ‘Pass’ Examination of their abandonment of delusion is so delusory in Jenni Fagan (2026) ‘The Delusions’.

March 25, 2026

Say No! Why should we give way and surrender all of our Delusions for the sake of order! ‘We are not asking for permission to belong any more, not from a silent universe …’ [1] The delusory command to ‘Abandon all Delusions all You who enter here’ and Processing who will ‘Pass’ Examination of their … More Say No! Why should we give way and surrender all of our Delusions for the sake of order! ‘We are not asking for permission to belong any more, not from a silent universe …’ The delusory command to ‘Abandon all Delusions all You who enter here’ and Processing who will ‘Pass’ Examination of their abandonment of delusion is so delusory in Jenni Fagan (2026) ‘The Delusions’.

And yet, in humans, I know my love as rare / As any they belied with false compare.

March 18, 2026

I am fairly sure I have never received a ‘compliment’ in which I believed that formed itself in words and metaphors, for these things are essentially fictive and their truth at the same remove from simple belief as anything else significant that is still composed of fictions. We can’t live without fictions but we should … More And yet, in humans, I know my love as rare / As any they belied with false compare.