Shakespeare’s Detour
William Shakespeare is one of the world’s greatest dramatists. Before he consolidated his position in that field he took a detour to another. This is a look at what happened. … Continue reading
The Mystery of the Murder Story
A friend recently lent me a copy of The Suspicions of Mr Whicher by Kate Summerscale, an account of a factual 1860 murder investigation, the case of the killing of … Continue reading
Science Fiction
Philip K Dick, in talking about science fiction, defined it as a story or novel in which a new concept or idea is introduced, which is truly new, and which … Continue reading
Pornography
Do you like pornography? The story I heard was that pornography was the glue that held the internet together, that so much internet traffic was created from marketing and consuming … Continue reading
Chance
I had a dream. In it huge shadowy players were throwing gigantic dice. They were like figures from a Greek vase, but they were enormous, and black figures which were … Continue reading
Ways of thought
Isak Dinesen in one of her stories (one of the Seven Gothic Tales) commented on the different (to males) mental processes of women. She says that women don’t reason, in … Continue reading
Three Wise Monkeys
Calendar wisdom Those little pithy pearls of wisdom you see on your office calendar: it all started with the monkeys. A popular misconception of the theories of Charles Darwin is … Continue reading
