A Short History of Name-Dropping
The term is recent, its history short. Name-dropping was coined a term shortly after the second world war, in…
The Making of a Rhapsodic Quilt: Roland Barthes And The Deconstruction of Self
I am not contradictory; I am dispersed. Roland Barthes on Roland Barthes To write on oneself may seem a pretentious…
The Creative Moment, Part Two: Owen and Plath
Wilfred Owen, the finest English war poet, was born in Shropshire, the eldest son of a minor railway official…
Poe and Me
My introduction to Edgar Allan Poe came about courtesy of the twenty-volume Book of Knowledge, an American children’s encyclopaedia…
Unbound
Pele Cox’s dramatical production of ‘Unbound’ sees ‘the triangle of affection’ between Mary, Shelley and Byron…
The Life and Art of Sir Thomas Wyatt
Sir Thomas Wyatt is appreciated today principally for his poetry. In his own time, however, as well as producing some…
Retailing History: the Rushdie Effect
The world was gulled from the start into imagining that a magical star had risen on the literary horizon…
The Mystery of Charles Baudelaire’s Mistress
Baudelaire’s relationship with his muse, Jeanne Duval, also known as his ‘Black Venus’…
Madonna and Child
Don’t believe the lies: Joseph was a randy little sod. That’s why we had to leave, go back to…
Woman on an Island
‘Mes pensées les plus chères sont étrangères au monde, …’ – Francis Ponge: Drame de l’expression Envy the woman…
The Fridges of Ghosts
are tall and slim. They do not smell of anything – no bacteria grow in yoghurt pots nor chicken…
SaltWater
Tobacco The taste of tobacco filled his mouth and made it water. Jim spat, and he felt ready for the…
Whistler by River and Sea by Marina Vaizey
An American in London: Whistler and the Thames Dulwich Picture Gallery 16 October 2013 – 12 January 2014 The charming,…
Enclosed Orders
It was on page thirteen of Le Figaro, among items of national interest: an appeal by Monseigneur Jérôme Vallon…
Object Lessons
I’m a relentless accumulator of objects – in other words an impassioned collector, quite unable to restrain myself from…
The Creative Moment Part One
Keats and Rimbaud We are perennially fascinated by how poets transcend their early work, fulfill their potential and create…
Field-Weary
At root level Grass sucks the sun green Through its stem The ram-Bull rises Blown into shape Out of…
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