The comical death of Buffo the Great Buffo is the Clown of Clowns. The Head of Clowns. The Master of Clowns. He wears a bladder on his head. Think of that, says Carter. He wears his insides on his outside, and a portion of his … Continue readingClowns, Tornadoes and Angela Carter’s Nights at the Circus
The engineer and the bot A Google engineer claims that a bot has become sentient. It is unclear whether the bot is growing and moving towards personhood, wants to put out some tentacles and taste some flowers, or just likes to chat with Google engineers, … Continue readingSENTIENT BOTS AND THE MYSTIQUE OF PERSONHOOD
Crawling across the street at night Some years ago, when I was walking down a street at night with performer Kristian Al Droubi, I asked him if he would crawl naked across the street at a pedestrian crossing. The street itself was empty. It might … Continue readingPERFORMANCE AT PLAY, PUBLIC SPACES AND THE VIEW FROM A HAYSTACK
The wounded one Doris Lessing’s benighted world of Shikasta, initially intended to carry the much more harmonious name of Rohanda, will be instantly recognisable to Earthlings as a twice-renamed version of their own home. This novel was written at a time of conflict, within revolutionary … Continue readingHOW TO MAKE FRIENDS WITH ALIENS
It starts with an old woman It starts with an old woman, in a village, in a remote part of the world, where life was a lot harder than we remember. Her pregnant daughter lives higher up in the mountains, closer to the edge of … Continue readingWhen Peter Met the Wolf
A dream that oversteps boundaries A few years ago, I dreamt that I was dying. There are many dreams where you almost die, and I’ve always woken up just before it happened. At the leap of the talking leopard, before hitting the ground after falling … Continue readingDeath’s Ecosystems, Whale Falls and the Immortal Loves of Poets
I walk through the dark parts of the city, the darkest, looking for those places that even rats avoid. I love places like this, the spots that the streetlights didn’t catch, a crack in the concrete, a crack in me, in the system, a crack … Continue readingMonster
Two children, one of whom wants to go back home A few years back, someone thrust Elena Ferrante at me, because that was the book that everyone was thrusting on their friends at the time. The first one, titled My Brilliant Friend, looked so promising. … Continue readingWhat the Goldfish Had to Say to Elena Ferrante’s Brilliant Friendship
Oceane goes to Finland In Tibor Fischer’s Voyage to the End of the Room, Oceane, who lives alone in London, tells us that she’s taking a trip to Finland. She goes down the stairs of her apartment to the living room, and there is Finland. … Continue readingTravel, Travellers, Inside, Outsiders and Fainting Canaries
I can’t find a single review of Jeanette Winterson’s Frankisstein that isn’t roaring applause. The same goes for Frozen, the Disney-Snow Queen of some years ago, which has now arrived at its sequel. It’s because both ‘ tick all the right boxes,’ as they claim. … Continue readingFrozen, Frankisstein and the Cold, Cold Heart