Category Archives: Uncategorized

In a conversation with a colleague interested in the institutions of liberal democracy, I urged her to consider scribling a top ten tips for engaging in civil society. It led me to meditations of my own on the topic of … Continue reading →

Sounds of congregation from Damballah by John Edgar Wideman … I wanted to dwell on Sybela’s first free morning but the chant of the Gospel Chorus wouldn’t let me sit still. Lord, reach down and touch me. The chorus wailing … Continue reading →

The postmodern braiding of diegetic elements with those of the narration is accomplished with panache in Laurent Binet’s La septième fonction du langage. Our hero is at a party at Cornell and reviews in picaresque terms the péripéties that have … Continue reading →

It is the description of the objects that underwrites the discrediting of the discrediting. We are reminded of the opening lines phrased as a pointed question in Marge Piercy’s “Looking at Quilts”: Who decided what is useful in its beauty … Continue reading →

Alison Uttley Grey Rabbit’s May Day “Unwilling to steal ritual flowers, but unable to speak and explain their need, the animals leave gifts in exchange — among them a Roman glass tear bottle, found by the mole in a tunnel … Continue reading →

As the veneer of democracy starts to fade… on Paolo Virno by McKenzie Wark in its peroration opens up the field: Here I would like to just mention some caveats. Firstly, it seems rather old fashioned to speak only of … Continue reading →

John Alcorn — last song on Haunted is a ballad of two women loved by the same sailor who in the course of the song comes and goes leaving our protagonists to their routines. It begins enchantingly … Miss Agnes … Continue reading →

This is perhaps my favourite entry in The Elements of Style by William Strunk Jr. and E.B. White. Hopefully. This once-useful adverb meaning “with hope” has been distorted and is now widely used to mean “I hope” or “it is … Continue reading →

The Quotable Oscar Wilde by Sheridan Morley renders this with two instances of “very” I have very simple tastes, I am always satisfied with the very best. I have seen a similar sentiment attributed to Winston Churchill: “I am easily … Continue reading →

Saw My Fair Lady the other evening. My viewing companion hated it but sat through it. He loved the hats. Nothing else. I was intrigued by how Cukor makes the ensemble numbers into depictions of a vibrant social space. Of … Continue reading →