An important property of any doorway is that you can close it, and the same goes for a book. I was prompted to this thought by some interesting observations on Balaclava, the forum of the SAS (no, not the special forces, the Scattered Authors’ Society) regarding the misguided urge some people have (publishers among them) … Continue reading Accommodating monsters: Books as Doorways
Month: November 2012
Anodyne
Anodyne: it’s an interesting word. Strictly, it means a medicine that allays pain, as its etymology suggests, being from the Greek for ‘painless’, or ‘without pain’. A good thing, then, you would think; so it is interesting to consider how it has come to have a pejorative sense, particularly as applied to literature. Pain and … Continue reading Anodyne
The Hobbit as adult literature
No, not that kind of ‘adult’ - please! I have been trying to pin down the source of my conviction that The Hobbit is, essentially, a book more for adults than children - a conviction that I formed on re-reading it after many years. I think it is because it is about a grand scheme … Continue reading The Hobbit as adult literature
The Cartography of Childhood 2: a recanting
'Blog in haste, repent at leisure.' (old proverb, probably attributed to Albert Einstein/Dr Seuss/Abraham Lincoln) When I said ‘the fantasy element in fantasy literature is the embodiment of the child’s expectations of the grown-up world’ I felt I had pinned down an idea that I have been moving towards for some time - years, in … Continue reading The Cartography of Childhood 2: a recanting
Evidence of the Atomic Theory at work…
Here’s some I wrote earlier…
Once upon a time, there was a splendid site about fixed-gear cycling called 63xc, run by Will Meister, proprietor of the coolest cycleshop in cyberspace, Hubjub. (I have just learned that Hubjub has now changed hands - I hope it continues the excellent service Will established) This is a piece I wrote for Will in … Continue reading Here’s some I wrote earlier…
The Cartography of Childhood
The first house I remember clearly is the second I lived in, from when I was not yet three till shortly before my seventh birthday. It occupied the upper right-hand quarter of a council house that stood at one end of a pair of keyhole-shaped cul-de-sacs that faced one another across a main street. To … Continue reading The Cartography of Childhood
My books….
What, my books? (humph, harrumph!) should be over here, somewhere I think...(shuffles, Badger-like, unshaven, in maroon dressing-gown and striped pyjamas to sagging bookshelves)Well there's thisand thisand this...and this, of course.I wish you joy of them.(retires, coughing, amid a haze of dust) [some years later](Re-enters, clad as before, but even more dishevelled. Taps on screen)You're still … Continue reading My books….
Absalom, Absalom!
Our beloved son Patrick, photographed by his big sister at his cousin's wedding. 'The king therefore being much moved, went up to the high chamber over the gate, and wept. And as he went he spoke in this manner: My son Absalom, Absalom my son: would to God that I might die for thee, Absalom … Continue reading Absalom, Absalom!
The Next Big Thing
The Next Big Thing.
COMPLEAT TROWZER 