I’m not sure why it is that I’ve never been attracted to science fiction. It’s not because of its element of fantasy: I am more than happy to read ghost stories, say, or Gothic horror. But science fiction films (most of which, aficionados tell me, isn’t science fiction at all) hold little attraction for me, [...]
Archive for August, 2011
19 Aug
Reading plays
Plays, I keep being told, are intended to be seen, not read. Which perturbs me, as I rather enjoy reading plays. Of course, we can accept that plays were intended to be seen, but where exactly is the evidence that they were not also intended to be read? As far as I know, playwrights are, [...]
18 Aug
On escapism
What is it that makes me feel so uncomfortable to see the act of reading described as “escapism”? The most obvious answer is that serious literature isn’t escapism. Serious literature is about real life, or it’s about nothing at all. Indeed, it can sometimes be quite the opposite of “escapism”: it can force the reader [...]
15 Aug
On literature and soaps
What should I blog about now, I wonder? Should I blog about the recent London riots? Of course, I have my views and opinions – strong ones at that – but since I have no particular knowledge to offer of their causes, nor any particular insight into wider political or sociological significance, let me not [...]
13 Aug
On melodrama
Like the term “sentimentality”, the term melodrama is frequently used in criticism in a pejorative sense, but is rarely defined. The Oxford English Dictionary gives us the following: melodrama in early 19th-cent use, a stage play (usually romantic and sensational in plot and incident) in which songs and music were interspersed. In later use the [...]
12 Aug
On sentimentality
It is generally agreed that sentimentality, whether in novels, films, plays or whatever, is a Bad Thing, but there seems little agreement on what precisely constitutes sentimentality. When we try to define it, when we try to state clearly the criteria that differentiate that which is mere sentiment from that which is genuine emotion, we [...]
12 Aug
What title would you give to your autobiography?
In the first place, I wouldn’t think of penning an autobiography: it would either be dishonest or embarrassing, and, either way, tedious, both for myself and for any prospective reader. But if I were to be so egotistical as to imagine that complete strangers may take an interest in my life, what would I call [...]
9 Aug
Riots stop play
Tonight, I had hoped to have been at the National Theatre in London, to see the rarely performed Ibsen play Emperor and Galilean. I had hoped afterwards to write a review here of the production. Alas, the best laid plans of mice and men, and all that… After last night’s appalling riots in various parts [...]
7 Aug
Dostoyevsky’s “Demons”
My rediscovery of Dostoyevsky continues. I first read this novel as a teenager, well over thirty years ago now, in David Magarshack’s translation. He had translated the title as The Devils (Ian Katz, whose translation is currently published by Oxford World Classics, also translates the title as The Devils), while the most recent translators, Robert [...]
7 Aug
“A Midsummer Night’s Dream” at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-on-Avon
A Midsummer Night’s Dream, directed by Nancy Meckler, Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-on-Avon, 2011 To begin with, I feared the worst. Theseus’ court was a grim, grey, bare place, with men playing cards and hookers lounging around. Why should Theseus hold court in a cheap brothel, I wonder? The mood projected seemed so far from the [...]
