Tag: relationships

Let us not refuse ‘to accept the dynamic in love that breaks through barriers and boundaries set by normative standards’.

January 17, 2026

Oh what a tangled web is this prompt question! Even if we discount the current fashion in invoking the word ‘positive’ all the time, the question seems loaded. What is the implication? Is it that given the chance, people will write about a ‘negative example’ of where they’ve felt loved? It seems impossible then to … More Let us not refuse ‘to accept the dynamic in love that breaks through barriers and boundaries set by normative standards’.

A distant memory of a distant Peter Avery: “Between my vice and my religion, I find myself continually on my knees.” A ‘straightened’ memory of a queer Fellow.

March 25, 2025

A distant memory of a distant Peter Avery: “Between my vice and my religion, I find myself continually on my knees” A straightened memory of a queer Fellow. I have just read Simon Goldhill’s wonderful book published this year (2025) Queer Cambridge: An Alternative History and will, when I am able and have reflected a … More A distant memory of a distant Peter Avery: “Between my vice and my religion, I find myself continually on my knees.” A ‘straightened’ memory of a queer Fellow.

Let’s break from tradition but only so we and the status quo can keep on going on, and on, and on … as they are.

January 30, 2025

Let’s break from tradition, but only so we can go on, and on, and … and the status quo can keep on going on as it is.  The thing about words is that, as I keep endlessly and no doubt obseesively repeating in these blogs, they not only change their meaning but also preserve the … More Let’s break from tradition but only so we and the status quo can keep on going on, and on, and on … as they are.

In the self-published memoir-cum-novel ‘poof: a curriculum vitae’, James, the narrator, generalises on the background human condition assumed in the work. He says, for instance: ‘Despair over our own existences certainly makes us bury obvious truths. Masochistic for meaning, we give ourselves over to existing powers so easily’.  At another point, James says: ‘Now I have become a master of fieldwork psychology’. Yet we cannot know the full context in which  that naming of a role has meaning. This blog tries to read this analytic novel’s study of the lives of masters and slaves, and a world where power seems all there is in relationships, in a way that makes sense to me.

January 23, 2025

In the self-published memoir-cum-novel poof: a curriculum vitae, James, the narrator, generalises on the background human condition assumed in the work. He says, for instance:  ‘Despair over our own existences certainly makes us bury obvious truths. Masochistic for meaning, we give ourselves over to existing powers so easily’.[1]  At one point, James says: ‘Now I … More In the self-published memoir-cum-novel ‘poof: a curriculum vitae’, James, the narrator, generalises on the background human condition assumed in the work. He says, for instance: ‘Despair over our own existences certainly makes us bury obvious truths. Masochistic for meaning, we give ourselves over to existing powers so easily’.  At another point, James says: ‘Now I have become a master of fieldwork psychology’. Yet we cannot know the full context in which  that naming of a role has meaning. This blog tries to read this analytic novel’s study of the lives of masters and slaves, and a world where power seems all there is in relationships, in a way that makes sense to me.