Tag Archives: literature

A Modern Hero

Posted on May 6, 2024 by Lee

In Arthur Machen’s The Hill of Dreams, Lucian writes a book, submits it to a publisher and, after an agonising wait, receives a rejection. Some time later his book is published – under the name of another author. Lucian’s work … Continue reading →

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On Poe and Writing with Purpose

Posted on April 22, 2024 by Lee

H.P. Lovecraft said the genius of Edgar Allan Poe was that he expressed human sensations the way they really are. The sensations he was interested in describing were those of pain, decay, and terror. Poe was carrying out a scientific … Continue reading →

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Friday, 21st February 1997

Posted on February 21, 2024 by Lee

Besides getting his toilet fixed by a man called “Dirty Dave,” William Burroughs spent the day reading Asylum by Patrick McGrath. It’s been a long time since I read that book. I remember I enjoyed it but little more. What … Continue reading →

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Fire and Tears

Posted on December 8, 2023 by Lee

According to the Mahabharata, there was a time when there was no death. Creation was the big thing, and a fiery god created and created things until the universe was packed. Until even he had to admit he’d overdone it. … Continue reading →

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Home

Posted on November 24, 2023 by Lee

I finished reading Future Home of the Living God by Louise Erdrich this morning. The Earth is our home, and the future home will be the Earth to come. In the story, the planet is changing fast and the future … Continue reading →

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Doors

Posted on August 3, 2023 by Lee

To make a short story by Kafka even shorter: A man approaches a door and is told by the doorkeeper that he cannot enter. The door is wide open and the man thinks about just strolling through and the doorkeeper … Continue reading →

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Labyrinths

Posted on July 20, 2023 by Lee

For Borges a labyrinth is a place, somewhere you might find yourself, which has the quality of being infinite. It might be a house and the house might have only fourteen rooms. But if those fourteen rooms are your whole … Continue reading →

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A little says a lot

Posted on July 6, 2023 by Lee

“In the chair / I decided to call Haiku / By the name of Pop” I like Jack Kerouac’s approach to haiku. As everyone knows, haiku means a poem of seventeen syllables. But Kerouac didn’t think the syllable restriction worked … Continue reading →

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Clinging On

Posted on May 30, 2023 by Lee

There’s an old man in a story by Nabokov, a terrible old man, whom the narrator makes quite sure you could have no love for – he’s lecherous, sour, selfish – but perhaps still you can feel sympathy because he … Continue reading →

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Paradox and Buffoonery

Posted on May 16, 2023 by Lee

“You gotta fight for peace.” And some in the audience must have agreed. If bad people will do bad things you’ve got to do something to stop them. But others just saw the paradox and laughed. One of those who … Continue reading →

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