4th July 2007 Continuing to watch Rome, the second series, and reading a lengthy discussion on ECW about classicism, I fell to musing on these topics. The problem with the discussion was the lack of definition of 'classicism'. What do we mean by this? In the context of talking about the Eighteenth Century we use the …
Category: books
Me from myself – to banish (OP)
22nd August 2005 Here is another poem that was posted on the Women Writers list... Me from Myself -- to banish -- Had I Art -- Impregnable my Fortress Unto All Heart -- But since Myself -- assault Me -- How have I peace Except by subjugating Consciousness? And since We're mutual Monarch How this …
Having It Out With Melancholy (OP)
8th August 2005 On a Yahoo list I am on someone posted this poem... Having it Out with Melancholy by Jane Kenyon 1 FROM THE NURSERY When I was born, you waited behind a pile of linen in the nursery, and when we were alone, you lay down on top of me, pressing the bile …
Coming Out (OP)
3rd August 2007 I have been attending a local Mystery reading group - the Erdington Crime Fiction Reading Group - at my local library for a few months now. This is partly as a result of Mark (my therapist/analyst) encouraging me to participate in more 'real-life' activities. It has been an enjoyable experience and has …
Marianne, Lucy Jordan and Lizzie Eustace (OP)
26th June 2007 A superb South Bank show documentary on Marianne Faithfull; film from a recent concert, and a couple of interviews, the main one being conducted by Bragg (not a favourite of mine, but I must admit this was a good, fairly self-effacing interview). All the main events were covered - the discovery, As …
Continue reading Marianne, Lucy Jordan and Lizzie Eustace (OP)
Dance – QU Chapter 1 (OP)
6th July 2007 I have decided to embark on an occasional blog charting the progress of a re-reading (the 10th? 20th?) of Anthony Powell's Dance to the Music of Time. This is not intended as literary criticism, although there will no doubt be attempts at this, but more of an examination of my relationship with …
Malcolm and Barbara, Linebaugh, Fallen Angel (OP)
13th August 2007 Last week we watched Paul Watkins' remarkable documentary 'Malcolm and Barbara', which recorded how Malcolm fell ill with and eventually died of dementia. Filmed over a number of years the documentary was at times almost unwatchable in its unsparing presentation of the reality of dementia. Sadly, the programme's message was obscured by an absurd media …
Continue reading Malcolm and Barbara, Linebaugh, Fallen Angel (OP)
Work, work, work (OP)
15th August 2007 Peter Linebaugh in The London Hanged (p14) writes... >>new morality became triumphant among the capitalist class at the end of the seventeenth century. Christopher Hill contrasted it with the religious attitudes prevailing earlier: 'Labour, the curse of fallen man, had become a religious duty, a means of glorifying God in our calling. …
Grayling on Reading (OP)
Although when I started this blog I only transferred a few entries from their old home, I have decided that the time has come to move over everything that I might want to refer back to in the future. The excellence of the WordPress search facility is another compelling reason for doing this, as is the …
2009 in Reading
This entry is inspired by (or a blatant rip-off of!) my friend Ellen's wonderful blog at http://ellenandjim.wordpress.com/2010/01/05/another-year-in-reading/ about the books she read in 2009 which made a particular impact on her. It is also a personal celebration of the fact that I am now able to do this fairly easily since switching to a new blog provider …
Moving Toyshop 