There’s a peculiar kind of illness that has nothing to do with the body. It creeps in behind the eyes and presses down behind the ribs. It isn’t caused by lack of fresh air or poor hydration or an overlong breakfast. It’s spiritual, or at least — if that’s too much for polite company — … Continue reading The Swept Place: Why Some Churches Feel Wrong
Tag: existential
Wankerism: A Field Guide to the Modern Fool
This afternoon I found myself once again wandering the countryside in the company of a dangerously attractive lady – the sort of woman who improves both the scenery and one’s vocabulary. There’s something about walking that encourages philosophical invention. The Greeks had the Peripatetics; we have the footpath and a thermos. And so it was … Continue reading Wankerism: A Field Guide to the Modern Fool
A Very English Form of Possession – de la Mare’s, Seaton’s Aunt
I’ve always thought that the most frightening people don’t slam doors, rattle chains, or float about moaning like an amateur operatic chorus. They make the tea properly. They keep the house tidy. They speak softly. And they watch you. That’s why Seaton’s Aunt by Walter de la Mare unsettles me far more than any amount … Continue reading A Very English Form of Possession – de la Mare’s, Seaton’s Aunt
The Laughing Maw: A Fool, His Blind Eye, and the Human Condition
Jacob Cornelisz van Oostsanen (attributed), The Laughing Fool, c.1500–1510. Oil on panel. Rijksmuseum Twenthe, Enschede. In art some faces smile, and some rupture. Faces that split open into something older than laughter and far more dangerous. The Laughing Fool belongs among these ruptures. He greets the viewer not with the civility of portraiture but with … Continue reading The Laughing Maw: A Fool, His Blind Eye, and the Human Condition
The Naked Civil Servant: A Gospel According to Outrage
This book didn’t slip quietly into the world like a well-behaved parishioner. The Naked Civil Servant — Quentin Crisp’s scandalous act of cultural streaking, his autobiographical confession written with the dignity of a saint and the insolence of a man determined to rattle the tea trays of middle England. It’s a work so defiantly honest, … Continue reading The Naked Civil Servant: A Gospel According to Outrage
Wording 