Tag: fiction

‘What’s something you’d love to see in the future, but know you probably won’t live to witness?’ This question is stuck in the mud of illusion, for as Thomas Hardy said, in a work no-one ever reads, “if a way to the Better there be, it Begins with a Full Look at the Worst’.

May 26, 2026

‘What’s something you’d love to see in the future, but know you probably won’t live to witness?’ This question is stuck in the mud of illusion, for as Thomas Hardy said, in a work no-one ever reads, “if a way to the Better there be, it Begins with a Full Look at the Worst’. There … More ‘What’s something you’d love to see in the future, but know you probably won’t live to witness?’ This question is stuck in the mud of illusion, for as Thomas Hardy said, in a work no-one ever reads, “if a way to the Better there be, it Begins with a Full Look at the Worst’.

It is the kind of ‘moment’ that might be used as an answer to the title of James’ Baldwin’s novel ‘Tell Me How Long The Train’s Been Gone’, wherein moments have duration and measure in so many domains including measures of time and the quality, rather than quantity, of our attention to a phenomenon: the time scales, for instance, of narrative, history and self-awareness wherein ‘reality’ is at a premium.

May 25, 2026

In the loosest of uses of the word ‘moment’, I want to identify a ‘moment’ as that period of time over which I realised that reality is constantly reshaped by the means of its description. It is the kind of ‘moment’ that might be used as an answer to the title of James’ Baldwin’s novel … More It is the kind of ‘moment’ that might be used as an answer to the title of James’ Baldwin’s novel ‘Tell Me How Long The Train’s Been Gone’, wherein moments have duration and measure in so many domains including measures of time and the quality, rather than quantity, of our attention to a phenomenon: the time scales, for instance, of narrative, history and self-awareness wherein ‘reality’ is at a premium.

Maybe life, at bottom, is quicksand! Comparing Henrietta Moraes’ life ‘to quicksand, deadly calm on the surface but inherently untrustworthy beneath’, Dom Moraes, her third husband is said by Darren Coffield to have ‘worshipped the shifting sand she walked on’.[1] That worship wasn’t quite that of a lasting religion and when it changed it disappeared from sight like a body sunken into quicksand does. However, Darren Coffield allows Henrietta Moraes to speak to us, if fitfully, again. This blog is a reflection on Darren Coffield (2026) Hen: Mistress of Mayhem Cheltenham, The History Press.

May 19, 2026

Maybe life, at bottom, is quicksand! Comparing Henrietta Moraes’ life ‘to quicksand, deadly calm on the surface but inherently untrustworthy beneath’, Dom Moraes, her third husband is said by Darren Coffield to have ‘worshipped the shifting sand she walked on’.[1] That worship wasn’t quite that of a lasting religion and when it changed it disappeared … More Maybe life, at bottom, is quicksand! Comparing Henrietta Moraes’ life ‘to quicksand, deadly calm on the surface but inherently untrustworthy beneath’, Dom Moraes, her third husband is said by Darren Coffield to have ‘worshipped the shifting sand she walked on’.[1] That worship wasn’t quite that of a lasting religion and when it changed it disappeared from sight like a body sunken into quicksand does. However, Darren Coffield allows Henrietta Moraes to speak to us, if fitfully, again. This blog is a reflection on Darren Coffield (2026) Hen: Mistress of Mayhem Cheltenham, The History Press.

‘crush, and snap its pale / Wrist’: Thought and image disturbed by thought. More on Kane Benjamin Crookes’ poems

May 18, 2026

‘crush, and snap its pale / Wrist’: Thought and image disturbed by thought. More on Kane Benjamin Crookes’ poems A little while ago I wrote naively about Kane Benjamin Crookes first volume Blooming Us (see the blog at this link). Promising then to return to it and his next volume at the time, I will … More ‘crush, and snap its pale / Wrist’: Thought and image disturbed by thought. More on Kane Benjamin Crookes’ poems

Are there truly literature charts like there are pop charts? Is rating a ‘classic’ book (over or under the consensus level) the vain game I think it is? Is the term ‘classic’ already playing that vain game?

May 14, 2026

This questions prompts something less than an answer to it from me and something more than the kind of cool response, opinion seeking prompts are won’t to expect. First of all, the assumption that anyone and everyone will agree on what is a ‘classic book’, or even what ‘classic’ means in this respect just doesn’t … More Are there truly literature charts like there are pop charts? Is rating a ‘classic’ book (over or under the consensus level) the vain game I think it is? Is the term ‘classic’ already playing that vain game?

‘People stared at the narrow limits in front of them, until they neither saw nor heard the rumours at their own border’. Historical novels invent our interest in underrated lives; the likes of which might once have been lived by someone now forgotten, nevertheless. Is Bryher a neglected novelist in part for that reason? A case study based on their novel ‘Roman Wall’ (1955) and the borders of the ‘historical’ novel.

May 12, 2026

‘People stared at the narrow limits in front of them, until they neither saw nor heard the rumours at their own border’.[1] Historical novels invent our interest in underrated lives; the likes of which might once have been lived by someone now forgotten, nevertheless. Is Bryher a neglected novelist in part for that reason? A … More ‘People stared at the narrow limits in front of them, until they neither saw nor heard the rumours at their own border’. Historical novels invent our interest in underrated lives; the likes of which might once have been lived by someone now forgotten, nevertheless. Is Bryher a neglected novelist in part for that reason? A case study based on their novel ‘Roman Wall’ (1955) and the borders of the ‘historical’ novel.

Relieving a man’s ‘urgent need’ on ‘Love Lane’:  This is a blog about that ‘surprising book’ by Patrick Gale (2026) ‘Love Lane’ London, Tinder Press.

May 8, 2026

Relieving a man’s ‘urgent need’ on ‘Love Lane’:  This is a blog about that ‘surprising book’ by Patrick Gale (2026) Love Lane London, Tinder Press. I have long been a reader and fan of Patrick Gale, though I have only written a blog on one of his novels, Mother’s Boy, a fictional biography of Charles … More Relieving a man’s ‘urgent need’ on ‘Love Lane’:  This is a blog about that ‘surprising book’ by Patrick Gale (2026) ‘Love Lane’ London, Tinder Press.

Superpower: the power to disallow others from having power over you ever again. In the end, it’s a paltry power but somehow it’s all we want and admire. A case study from seeing the Metropolitan Opera production of Tchaikovsky’s ‘Eugene Onegin’.

May 6, 2026

Superpower: the power to disallow others from having power over you ever again. In the end, it’s a paltry power but somehow it’s all we want and admire. A case study from seeing the Metropolitan Opera production of Tchaikovsky’s ‘Eugene Onegin’. First of all, since I have twice blogged on preparations to see the present … More Superpower: the power to disallow others from having power over you ever again. In the end, it’s a paltry power but somehow it’s all we want and admire. A case study from seeing the Metropolitan Opera production of Tchaikovsky’s ‘Eugene Onegin’.

We have to learn how to accept loss in our life or live with distortion, for (as E.M. Forster tried to show his beloved hero, Maurice) ‘letters distort even more quickly than silence’?

May 5, 2026

It must have seemed a mystery to me, else why did I write it so carefully on the front endpaper of my copy of Maurice (written in 1914 but first published in 1971, and mine was a first edition), at the age of 20 to consider why it seemed to matter so much to me … More We have to learn how to accept loss in our life or live with distortion, for (as E.M. Forster tried to show his beloved hero, Maurice) ‘letters distort even more quickly than silence’?

‘boustrophedon, one of the loveliest words in the English language, …’. If only the aims of life were not so ‘chopped up’, end-stopped and linear, we might realise that ‘in our minds’ are ‘only sinuous furrows of thought’. This blog reflects on Yann Martel’s novel, ‘Son of Nobody’.

May 1, 2026

‘boustrophedon, one of the loveliest words in the English language, …’. If only the aims of life were not so ‘chopped up’, end-stopped and linear, we might realise that ‘in our minds’ are ‘only sinuous furrows of thought’. [1] This blog reflects on Yann Martel’s novel, ‘Son of Nobody’. Of course, writing is about giving … More ‘boustrophedon, one of the loveliest words in the English language, …’. If only the aims of life were not so ‘chopped up’, end-stopped and linear, we might realise that ‘in our minds’ are ‘only sinuous furrows of thought’. This blog reflects on Yann Martel’s novel, ‘Son of Nobody’.

Is being productive the issue? Producing art or understanding thereof is more often about the analysis of the unproductive or listless: in Russian, the state of ‘khandra’. This blog is a case study based on preparions for seeing The Metropolitan Opera’s ‘Eugene Onegin’ streamed to Durham Gala on the 6th June.

April 28, 2026

Tchaikovsky could only mount the story of Eugene Onegin according to the strict material limits of the nineteenth century opera and its conventions. There must be three Acts. What must have been clear to him that these acts needed each to revolve around a central dramatic encounter – of course three such were obvious. And … More Is being productive the issue? Producing art or understanding thereof is more often about the analysis of the unproductive or listless: in Russian, the state of ‘khandra’. This blog is a case study based on preparions for seeing The Metropolitan Opera’s ‘Eugene Onegin’ streamed to Durham Gala on the 6th June.

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?