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
Tag: philosophy
Not Bad: A Epitaph for Daisy Miller
In the end, they decided she was innocent — and that was all she was ever allowed to be. I’ve always felt that Daisy Miller is less a story about impropriety than about cowardice. Not Daisy’s — heaven forbid — but ours. Ours as readers, as observers, as members of those polite little tribunals that … Continue reading Not Bad: A Epitaph for Daisy Miller
The Smiling Corroder
Illustration inspired by Goethe’s Faust I’ve always preferred my devils civilised. Not the horned livestock of Sunday-school murals, nor the pantomime villain with a pitchfork and a contract written in sulphur. Those devils are easy to spot, which is why they’re mostly harmless. The devil that troubles me — the one who lingers — is … Continue reading The Smiling Corroder
All Day on the Sands: A British Passion Play in Dripping Cardigans
Alan Bennett has never quite been my usual flavour — a bit too cardigan-and-cucumber-sandwich for my tastes. And yet All Day on the Sands, this modest, meandering little play, has fastened itself to me like damp sand between the toes. I suspect it’s because these were precisely the sort of ‘holidays’ we had when I … Continue reading All Day on the Sands: A British Passion Play in Dripping Cardigans
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
Wording 