John Baker's Blog
Blog URL http://johnbakersblog.co.uk
Located York, North Yorkshire United Kingdom
Tags writer, novelist, reader, literature, fiction, theatre, politics, quotations, creative writing
Blog of UK based novelist, John Baker, with emphasis on the craft of writing fiction, reading, theatre, reviews, and often veering off into wider cultural areas.
Latest Blog Posts
- 2666 by Roberto Bolaño on Nov 19, 2009 in literature politics quotations reviews writing bolano books fiction literary critics mexico murder novel poetry serial killers sex violence war writers
The English translation, by Natasha Wimmer, reads like this: The city center was old, with three- or four-story buildings and arcaded plazas in a state of neglect and young office workers in shirt-sleeves and Indian women with bundles on their backs...
- A Poem by Stephen Dunn on Nov 13, 2009 in literature quotations clown poem poetry stephen dunn
If a Clown by Stephen Dunn If a clown came out of the woods, a standard-looking clown with oversized polka-dot clothes, floppy shoes, a red, bulbous nose, and you saw him on the edge of your property, there’d be nothing funny about that, would the...
- Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar on Nov 7, 2009 in literature politics reviews theatre brutus cassius julius caesar newcastle rome rsc shakespeare
We were at the Theatre Royal in Newcastle to see the Royal Shakespeare Company’s production of Julius Caesar, directed by Lucy Bailey. It’s been a while since I’ve seen a production of the play, and I certainly came to Newcastle wit...
- Reflections in a Golden Eye on Oct 31, 2009 in literature quotations reviews writing army carson mccullers novel soldier
Carson McCullers second novel opens like this: An army post in peacetime is a dull place. Things happen, but then they happen over and over again. The general plan of a fort in itself adds to the monotony – the huge concrete barracks, the neat...
- A Poem by Julius Chingono on Oct 25, 2009 in literature politics chingono poem poetry zimbabwe
My pot is an old paint container I do not know who bought it I do not know whose house it decorated I picked up the empty tin in Cemetery Lane.
- The Caucasian Chalk Circle on Oct 19, 2009 in politics reviews theatre brecht caucasian chalk circle child drama modernism mother puppet solomon war
In the second act the linearity of the piece falls apart and out of the ruins of that something very special begins to happen. The audience is engaged in a way that seemed impossible during the first hour and, in spite of Brechts stated aim that a pl...
- Bolaño’s Movie Theatres on Oct 15, 2009 in literature quotations theatre 2666 abyss alone bolano movie theatre multiplex religion vertigo
The only movie theatres that were worth anything, said Charly Cruz, were the old ones, remember them? those huge theatres where your heart leaped when they turned out the lights. Those places were great, they were the real movie theatres, more like c...
