Spanish Renaissance Towns near Granada

A Little Tour round Spanish Renaissance Towns

Duende, according to the Spanish poet Garcia Lorca, is the mysterious, almost violent, force that animates the best of artistic performance, especially flamenco:

“Dark sounds….a mysterious force that everyone feels  and no philosopher has explained… the duende surges up, inside, from the soles of the feet.”

What's your Literary Cliche for 2016?

What’s your Literary Cliché for 2016?

The leader of the pack is probably Yeats’s Second Coming, with its apocalyptic lines about a rough beast slouching towards Bethlehem to be born. Very few liberal/left commentators on recent political events have been able to resist the poem’s choice phrases:

Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;

…

The best lack all conviction, while the worst

Are full of passionate intensity.

This is all “woe is us” stuff, offering on its surface nothing but unsubtle pessimism. Certainly the poem is usually wrenched out of its historical context – the end of WW1, and the turmoil of events in Ireland and Russia, and, most especially, out of the context of Yeats’s own idiosyncratic and mystical beliefs in unfolding epochs supplanting one another- the “gyres”. By his calculation, an epoch of “progress” was doomed to give place to something savage and reactionary. The fact that over the next decades this actually happened in the West has lent credence to Yeats’s accidental prophetic powers, if not to his philosophy.

Some Things to bear in Mind about Trump

Some things to Keep in Mind about the Trump Election

Everyone (including the victor, his supporters and sympathisers) is in some degree of shock following the victory of Trump. Many who are both shocked and dismayed are in the UK (and may most include most in the UK, but who really knows). How, we ask, did this happen? By which we mean, how did a man of such views and of such a character get the support of so many? A conservative victor running on an isolationist political ticket and a protectionist economic ticket might have been a cause for great regret, but not for the reaction, bordering on revulsion, which Trump has summoned forth.

Spanish Class at the Instituto Cervantes

A Spanish Class at the Instituto Cervantes

Until very recently (October 2016), the Instituto Cervantes inhabited a grand building in Eaton Square (I judge the grandness from the out-of-date photo on the institute’s website). As is fitting for a state-sponsored cultural organisation, it was near the Spanish embassy. Whether it was because the lease ran out (freeholds round there tend to be owned by the Duke of Westminster) or because Spain sold off the grand building for a huge sum, perhaps to a hedge fund or its owner, the Instituto has moved – to a far more interesting part of London.

Impressions of Australia

Brief Encounters with Some Places in Australia:

A Diary

Someone once sent me a postcard that showed a map of Western Europe, on top of which was imposed an outline of Australia, drawn to the same scale. Australia completely covered Europe. This was the first time I really got a sense of the size of the country, or continent.

Dulwich and the Queen's Picture Galleries - David Wilkie and Winifred Knights

Dulwich and The Queen’s Picture Galleries – David Wilkie and Winifred Knights

One day in Dulwich, the next in Buckingham Palace (art gallery annexe). In Dulwich, the exhibition devoted to the rather marvellous Winifred Knights, whose small oeuvre of masterpieces is readily appreciated by the un-knowledgeable visitor. In the Queen’s Gallery, paintings by Scottish artists owned by the monarch – mainly 18^th and 19^th century works.

Misleading analogies in the Free Will Debate

Misleading Analogies in the Debate about Free Will

(There are many.)

To start with, some definitions and  working assumptions:

·      “Free Will”, in its classical sense, denotes the claim that, in important respects, human beings are ultimately responsible for their decisions, moral and other (but especially moral). It is “up to us” (and no other cause which isn’t us) whether we decide to A or to B. The existence of this faculty grounds moral responsibility.

A Young Officer's Letters Home in the Second World War

A Young Officer’s Letters Home in WW2

I’ve been going through a cache of letters that my father, Michael, wrote to his mother and father, mainly during the middle years of WW2 (1942-3). Michael was a career army officer, in the Royal Engineers. He was born in 1916; so was in his mid to late 20s in the early 1940s.

As will appear, Michael was keen to be “in action”, but was frustrated in that ambition for much of the War – but not in the end.

Tate v NEO Bankside: a theme fit for Ballard

Tate v NEO Bankside: a Theme fit for Ballard

On the viewing deck of Tate Modern’s interesting new extension (Switch House), there are a number of notices fixed to the concrete pillars: “Please respect the privacy of our neighbours”. Is this is a Tate snigger, or a futile Canute command?

Homage to Christy Moore

Christy Moore

Two moments of serendipity have led to me being a fan, then a bigger fan, of the Irish singer, Christy Moore.

Moore is aged 71, and has been an acclaimed singer, songwriter and sometimes controversialist since the 1960s. Although I like Irish folk/rock music (Van Morrison, Dubliners, Pogues), I wasn’t aware of Moore until a year or so ago.

Brexit - Towards the Rainbow's End in Norfolk

Brexit – Towards the Rainbow’s End

We knew it would likely be thus from various indications noted last year (not least the flagpole with the Union Jack on the lawn). Therefore, when on Referendum Day we were greeted by our B&B host wearing two identical chest badges – an “EU” with a diagonal line struck through – we grimaced politely and said nothing. More lip biting as he ran through a “health and safety” patter, with the aside that he hoped to bin all that nonsense tomorrow.

On Looking into Heaney's Virgil

On Looking Into Heaney’s Virgil

The Preface takes me back. The great poet, Seamus Heaney, Nobel Laureate, writes fondly of his “A” level Latin teacher in the 1950s, who was disappointed that the class’s set book was Aeneid Book IX – “Och, boys, I wish it were Book VI”. That was a signpost for Heaney, who came to treasure, and finally translate, Book VI.

With God on Whose Side..

With God on Whose Side..

I receive various departmental alumni publications from my undergraduate university – even from a department for a subject I never studied academically. The material includes interesting and easily digested articles by faculty members – essentially versions of their “proper” academic work, gutted of the dense scholarship (mostly) and currently prevailing subject jargon (mostly).

Three Islands of Venice

Three Islands of Venice

I don’t often spend much time reading the puffery articles in the Easyjet inflight magazine (apologies to one loyal reader). But one piece did catch my eye as I flew into Venice recently. It was about the islands in the Venice Lagoon.

Is Ronda "neat"? Cadiz, the Old City

Ronda- a far from “neat” history; Cadiz- a bit like Venice; but then not

“It’s a neat town”, said a member of an American tour party sitting nearby. “Neat”, applied to Ronda, probably translates as “dramatic, well-preserved, easily navigated on foot, and with good facilities for visitors”.  All true. But to an English ear, “neat” also suggests “tidy” or even “tame”. Applied to Ronda’s recent history, very much untrue.

Dante's Purgatory at Stansted Airport

Dante’s Purgatory at Stansted Airport

One of the illustrations that Botticelli made for Dante’s Divine Comedy (recently on show at the Courtauld Gallery) is of a cowed gaggle of naked souls arriving on the shores Purgatory. Why do I recall this drawing fresh (or rather stale) from a journey through Stansted Airport?

The image is apt for the scene in the airport’s vast new security shed.

The Venn diagram between criticism of Israel and anti-Semitism

The Venn diagram of Anti-Semitism and Anti-Zionism

Prompted by recent public controversies, I’ve been trying to puzzle it out. Why does criticism of “Israel” either equate or not equate (assertion dependant on stance of asserter) to anti-Semitism? Many eloquent Jewish writers have focussed on the question in the past few weeks, and influenced my understanding. I still feel it’s worthwhile working it through – so here goes.

Nerja: costa dystopia or hillwalking utopia?

I have never been on a flight to or from Malaga, Costa del Sol, which hasn’t been full or nearly so – and I travel mostly mid-week and avoid peak holiday periods. The departure gate waiting areas are interesting for the amateur sociologist.

Just after the Easter school holidays, the hobby was easy enough to indulge. At Gatwick there was a scattering of families with pre-school infants. Almost all the rest of the 180 or so passengers were what the Americans call “snowbirds” – the grey or white haired folk who migrate, either temporarily or permanently, from the frozen or wet northern parts to The Sun.

Beyond Hobbes's Leviathan: the Alarming Visions of JG Ballard

         Beyond Hobbes’s Leviathan: The Alarming Visions of JG Ballard

The 17^th philosopher Thomas Hobbes believed that, without a civilising authority, humankind is condemned to live in a state of nature, where there is war of all against all and life is nasty, brutish and short. In his book Leviathan, Hobbes proposed that there was a profound drive, or law of nature, to escape this fate:

Understanding the Causes of Murderous Militancy

Understanding the Causes of Murderous Militancy

(This post sets out my thoughts after reading some expert commentaries. It is does not purport to contain any original, let alone expert, views. It also concentrates on a historical perspective, rather than examining the process of radicalisation of Western citizens.)

Since Tudor times, Roman Catholics, or some of them, have been praying for the “Conversion of England”. Indeed, one eminent modern clergyman says that England should be viewed as a “lapsed” catholic country, so that praying for England’s conversion is equivalent to prayer for restoration of a lapsed catholic to the True Faith.

Don't follow the caterpillars in Spain

Don’t follow the caterpillars in Spain

Humans in general do not have a very happy relationship with creepy-crawlies. Most of us have a default assumption that creepy-crawlies are “nasty”, in the sense of probably in some way damaging to plants, fabrics, our structures, or our skin or worse.

There is something else as well. We can more or less anthropomorphise (and therefore think we understand) other forms of animal life, even dangerous predators (for example, sharks as psychopathic stalkers), but insects seem profoundly alien, especially those that do indeed do us harm.

Sour about Auerbach

Sour about Auerbach at Tate Britain

Would I (to put it crudely) “get” Auerbach when I visited the exhibition at the Tate? Or would I come out unmoved and perplexed, as on the few occasions I’ve come across his work (there are a couple in the Courtauld Gallery)?

I’m afraid I did not get it. I find Auerbach’s paintings of landscapes and urban places (usually Camden Town) confusing and lacking in feeling; his paintings of models (usually heads) sometimes ghastly.

Don't Tell Me the Score

Don’t Tell Me the Score

I’m a moderate fan of some sports (football, cycling, tennis) and an occasional follower of others (international rugby and international cricket). In the case of rugby, I’m easily bored. I no longer understand the pernickety rules. Many games, for most of their duration, resemble the playground game of British Bulldog, without the latter’s fun (big men charging fruitlessly at a line of other big men). In the case of cricket, I like the radio commentary more than the game commented on.

Liberalism and Toleration - a Tricky Combination

Liberalism and Toleration – a Tricky Combination

(This a revised and expanded version of post from November 2015 on Toleration and replaces that post)

Most people would probably agree that toleration is an essential component of liberalism, even if, if pressed, people’s definition of “liberalism” may differ wildly. Nonetheless, it is broadly true that modern liberalism, in most of its guises, has a large part of its origin in developing theories of toleration.

Burglary in Spain

BURGLARY in SPAIN

“I have robbed”, I confessed to the bemused young Guardia Civil officer after I had found my way inside the rather imposing Guardia Civil barracks in Nerja (there is internet speculation that certain chips in the stonework date from the times of Civil War firing squads). My phrase book had correctly prompted me to say “me han robado”  (“they have [someone has] robbed me”), but in my somewhat panicky state it came out as “he robado”.

Chunks of Empire go missing at Tate Britain

Chunks of Empire go missing at Tate Britain

The main impression I took from the Tate’s Artists and Empire exhibition is that the visual arts don’t come close to the written arts in reflecting the complexities, the dark corners and the brighter corners of Britain’s chequered Empire.