Tag: fiction

Changing the ending? The issue is not with ‘books’, so to speak, but with stories, where changed endings are only one form of a work, which must exist through history as ‘translations, versions, or adaptations of works’ that involve ‘a conversation with an earlier writer’. Let’s choose, then, as so many have already done, a story where conversations with the original are ‘an encounter … across the span of two-and-a-half millennia’. Part Two of an examination of three versions of ‘The Oresteia’ before Simon Stone’s brilliant version: the Family Romancing of White Power in ‘The Oresteia’ of Eugene O’Neill, ‘Mourning Becomes Electra’.

July 24, 2026

Changing the ending? The issue is not with ‘books’, so to speak, but with stories, where changed endings are only one form of a work, which must exist through history as ‘translations, versions, or adaptations of works’ that involve ‘a conversation with an earlier writer’. Let’s choose, then, as so many have already done, a … More Changing the ending? The issue is not with ‘books’, so to speak, but with stories, where changed endings are only one form of a work, which must exist through history as ‘translations, versions, or adaptations of works’ that involve ‘a conversation with an earlier writer’. Let’s choose, then, as so many have already done, a story where conversations with the original are ‘an encounter … across the span of two-and-a-half millennia’. Part Two of an examination of three versions of ‘The Oresteia’ before Simon Stone’s brilliant version: the Family Romancing of White Power in ‘The Oresteia’ of Eugene O’Neill, ‘Mourning Becomes Electra’.

Obviously, for me, most of screen time is taken up by WordPress, and sister app Jetpack (on my mobile): ‘feeling bad’ is often its subject because it is about using my time for registering or reflecting, consolidating, and furthering personal learning.

July 20, 2026

As always, the title is the only way the answer to this prompt will get expressed. The rest becomes a test case and example of what that title’ means in practice. The aim is to extend my learning to state how I prepare to use time in that process – by planned theatre or arts … More Obviously, for me, most of screen time is taken up by WordPress, and sister app Jetpack (on my mobile): ‘feeling bad’ is often its subject because it is about using my time for registering or reflecting, consolidating, and furthering personal learning.

This blog uses Elizabeth Strout (2026) ‘The Things We Never Say’ as a test case for a thesis based on the difficulty of erasing trends from history. In it, the narrator says that Artie Dam, thinks his despair at the ‘state of the world’ relates to the hopeless hope that a dangerous right-wing demagogue does not win an American election fought(and won by the wrong person)  in the background of the narrative yet influential within it. However: ‘because he had studied history. He was aware that in all human existence there had never been a time where people were not killing one another, and why he had not been affected by this as strongly throughout his life as he was these days he could not understand’. As he gets home and removes his sailing boots he suddenly understands that his despair had another more primary cause: ‘It was an accretion of loneliness; …’.

July 12, 2026

This blog uses Elizabeth Strout (2026) The Things We Never Say London, Viking / Penguin as a test case for a thesis based on the difficulty of erasing trends from history. In it, the narrator says that Artie Dam, thinks his despair at the ‘state of the world’ relates to the hopeless hope that a … More This blog uses Elizabeth Strout (2026) ‘The Things We Never Say’ as a test case for a thesis based on the difficulty of erasing trends from history. In it, the narrator says that Artie Dam, thinks his despair at the ‘state of the world’ relates to the hopeless hope that a dangerous right-wing demagogue does not win an American election fought(and won by the wrong person)  in the background of the narrative yet influential within it. However: ‘because he had studied history. He was aware that in all human existence there had never been a time where people were not killing one another, and why he had not been affected by this as strongly throughout his life as he was these days he could not understand’. As he gets home and removes his sailing boots he suddenly understands that his despair had another more primary cause: ‘It was an accretion of loneliness; …’.

Let’s assume that ‘who we are’ can release an agency that shapes us beyond ‘who we are and were’ into some refined or reconfigured version of that self in the near or distant future. However, it can only do this by its response to experience. Do novelists deal with the kind of problem any more?

July 7, 2026

Let’s assume that ‘who we are’ can release an agency that shapes us beyond ‘who we are and were’ into some refined or reconfigured version of that self in the near or distant future. However, it can only do this by its response to experience. Do novelists deal with the kind of problem any more? … More Let’s assume that ‘who we are’ can release an agency that shapes us beyond ‘who we are and were’ into some refined or reconfigured version of that self in the near or distant future. However, it can only do this by its response to experience. Do novelists deal with the kind of problem any more?

The answer to whether one is a ‘lifelong learner’ is the title of the latest novel by Kae Tempest, namely ‘Having Spent Life Seeking’: as for what we seek to learn is it this? – ‘How to get by without ever getting anywhere, when getting through a minute was infinite; but every ending achieved was still only the beginning’.

July 4, 2026

The answer to whether one is a ‘lifelong learner’ is the title of the latest novel by Kae Tempest, namely ‘Having Spent Life Seeking’: as for what we seek to learn is it this? – ‘How to get by without ever getting anywhere, when getting through a minute was infinite; but every ending achieved was still … More The answer to whether one is a ‘lifelong learner’ is the title of the latest novel by Kae Tempest, namely ‘Having Spent Life Seeking’: as for what we seek to learn is it this? – ‘How to get by without ever getting anywhere, when getting through a minute was infinite; but every ending achieved was still only the beginning’.

Invited to imagine ‘your life’ as a book, the convenient thing about what you’d call a ‘chapter’ in it, is that it ends and pauses before another chapter begins. Is that because your life changed at some point or because, after the event, you want to write it as if it had?

July 2, 2026

One of the great beauties of writing an autobiography, a written story of the life you have passed thus far, is that, in writing it, you have the advantage of interpreting it, or any part of it, with a different view of what it all means now, or should as far as you are concerned … More Invited to imagine ‘your life’ as a book, the convenient thing about what you’d call a ‘chapter’ in it, is that it ends and pauses before another chapter begins. Is that because your life changed at some point or because, after the event, you want to write it as if it had?

Édouard Louis shows us that ‘happiness’ may be the result only of ‘social determinism’ succeeding in its function to ‘condition the person’ you are. This is a blog on Édouard Louis (2026) ‘Collapse’, London, Harvill.

June 18, 2026

Édouard Louis shows us that ‘happiness’ may be the result only of ‘social determinism’ succeeding in its function to ‘condition the person’ you are. [1] This is a blog on Édouard Louis (2026) Collapse [Trans Tash Aw], London, Harvill. This piece probably relates to what I have tried to say in blogs about earlier books. The … More Édouard Louis shows us that ‘happiness’ may be the result only of ‘social determinism’ succeeding in its function to ‘condition the person’ you are. This is a blog on Édouard Louis (2026) ‘Collapse’, London, Harvill.

Self-confidence is an illusion, as the best novels tell you. Try for resilience and the drive to move on. First of all think more deeply about what selves are. ‘The Guardian’ entitles its review of Douglas Stuart (2026) ‘John of John’ with the sentence ‘No man is an island’, but the reference to John Donne belittles a work in which islands are not only a metonymy for alienated isolation and loneliness but also a container for non-communicating multiple selves of the same kind.

June 9, 2026

Self-confidence is an illusion, as the best novels tell you. Try for resilience and the drive to move on. First of all think more deeply about what selves are. The Guardian entitles its review of Douglas Stuart (2026) John of John, London, Picador with the sentence ‘No man is an island’, but the reference to … More Self-confidence is an illusion, as the best novels tell you. Try for resilience and the drive to move on. First of all think more deeply about what selves are. ‘The Guardian’ entitles its review of Douglas Stuart (2026) ‘John of John’ with the sentence ‘No man is an island’, but the reference to John Donne belittles a work in which islands are not only a metonymy for alienated isolation and loneliness but also a container for non-communicating multiple selves of the same kind.

The French novel always went further than the English novel did, until the latter did it in ‘daring’ pastiche of the French in another art-form. This blog is my preparation to see the National Theatre live- streaming of Christopher Hampton’s ‘Les Liaisons Dangereuse’, adapted from the novel by Choderlos de Laclos written in 1782.

June 6, 2026

The French novel always went further than the English novel did, until the latter did it in ‘daring’ pastiche of the French in another art-form. This blog is my preparation to see the National Theatre live- streaming of Christopher Hampton’s ‘Les Liaisons Dangereuse‘, adapted from the novel by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos written in 1782. … More The French novel always went further than the English novel did, until the latter did it in ‘daring’ pastiche of the French in another art-form. This blog is my preparation to see the National Theatre live- streaming of Christopher Hampton’s ‘Les Liaisons Dangereuse’, adapted from the novel by Choderlos de Laclos written in 1782.

Movies that last often are as potent in pricking the bubble of someone else’s sense of their own dramatic moment, as when Vivien Leigh as  Scarlett O’Hara (in the film of ‘Gone With the Wind’) says in despair: “Where shall I go? What shall I do?”and Clark Gable as Rhett Butler responds: “Frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn.”

June 1, 2026

We all remember the scene from the film Gone With the Wind, even if not the details. The shallow life of Scarlett O’Hara, played by Vivien Leigh, is revealed when she is in weeds of mourning with her home, Tara (the paradisal halls of Tara in Irish mythology are enwrapped herein), compromised by the loss … More Movies that last often are as potent in pricking the bubble of someone else’s sense of their own dramatic moment, as when Vivien Leigh as  Scarlett O’Hara (in the film of ‘Gone With the Wind’) says in despair: “Where shall I go? What shall I do?”and Clark Gable as Rhett Butler responds: “Frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn.”

How to ‘finish’ a book. Is it the same thing as ‘reading’ a book.

May 31, 2026

How to ‘finish’ a book. Is it the same thing as ‘reading’ a book. When I was a child, I was obsessed with having to finish a book. It was a measure of the endurance, fortitude or passion (with varying degrees of drive and amounts of compulsion enforced from some internalised diktat or standard) to … More How to ‘finish’ a book. Is it the same thing as ‘reading’ a book.