Theology, gambling, and a horse named after a dandy – what could possibly go wrong? There are some things that should never mix: vicars and vodka, bishops and betting shops, or indeed, the very Reverend Augustin Jedd and anything with hooves. And yet in Arthur Wing Pinero’s frothy 1887 farce Dandy Dick, all these taboos … Continue reading On Dandy Dick – Part One: Or, How to Ruin a Dean and Win a Race
Tag: existentialism
Valmouth: Where Decorum Goes to Die (with a Wink and a Fan)
There are books that whisper. Books that purr. And then there’s Valmouth - a novella that arrives on the literary stage dressed in ostrich feathers and screaming “darling” before it’s even found its seat. If novels were guests at a country house, Valmouth would be the one caught kissing the butler, flirting with the vicar, … Continue reading Valmouth: Where Decorum Goes to Die (with a Wink and a Fan)
Bread Upon the Waters
Ecclesiastes 11:1, the art of giving, and the peculiar futility of being alive “Cast thy bread upon the waters: for thou shalt find it after many days.” — Ecclesiastes 11:1 There’s something heartbreakingly hopeful about that line, isn’t there? Something that makes you want to nod sagely, as if you understand it, even though - … Continue reading Bread Upon the Waters
Hylas and the Cancelled Nymphs
“But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst...” – John 4:14 There’s a strange modern heresy creeping through the cathedrals of culture - a sort of secular iconoclasm, not content with smashing statues, now turns its withering gaze toward oil on canvas. I found myself reflecting on this the … Continue reading Hylas and the Cancelled Nymphs
“Drop, Drop, Slow Tears” – A Meditation in the Margins
By a hopeless penitent with a bookshelf and a leaky conscience At the opening of Elizabeth Gaskell’s Ruth, before we meet the orphaned seamstress or the soft-hearted Bensons, we are met with tears. Not sentimental ones, but slow, penitential tears - each drop a silent argument for mercy. The chosen epigraph, “Drop, drop, slow tears”, … Continue reading “Drop, Drop, Slow Tears” – A Meditation in the Margins
Wording 