In 2016 I wrote a couple of posts on lists of writers whose work survives or is best known in fragments, who could even be imagined as the precursors of bloggers.
Tag Archives: blogging
Republishing blogs as books
The focus of my writing attention over the last couple of weeks has been on editing a collection of my blog posts that I will publish as books.I don’t know how common it is to republish blogs as books, if in edited and curated form. It seems little different to me to the many collections of oped, short essays, book reviews and occasional pieces that do get published quite often.
A New Direction for the Burning Archive
I am going to approach the blog with the advice of “document, don’t create” that I saw on popular vlogger on youtube, Ali Abdaal. For periods of the last ten years the blog has been my primary creative outlet. But that is now changing. I have my books in preparation, my podcast, my poems and my essays. And driving all of that my restless curiosity about how to save culture and history from the flames. So I am going to use the blog as the platform for all of those aspects of my author life.
Donne’s sermons and the blogging tradition
Today, 31 March, is the feast day for John Donne in the Anglican and Lutheran denominations and commemorates the metaphysical poet and reluctant priest’s death in 1631. In honour of this intriguing figure, whose poetry and prose I wish to read more of, I am reposting a post from September 2016. It speaks of theContinueContinue reading “Donne’s sermons and the blogging tradition”
Fragments from my diaries – the year in review
Throughout the year I have kept a diary in a an A5 black notebook of 200 pages or so. I have followed this practice for quite some years now, and when I write the first entry in the notebook will give it a title. This year’s notebooks I titled , “The view from Thucydides Tower”ContinueContinue reading “Fragments from my diaries – the year in review”
The kaleidoscope of 2020: year in review
A tradition that I have embraced on this blog over the last few years has been to write year in review posts in December. In 2019 I reflected on walking through the desert, notes on my reading, the democratic rebuff to progressivism, and walking through the circles of hell. In 2018 I reflected on ambiguousContinueContinue reading “The kaleidoscope of 2020: year in review”
A solution to political decay: the ordinary virtues of governing well
I am reposting this reflection on the response to political decay in the midst of the constitutional crisis under way in America, which reveals dramatically the rot in America’s institutions and elites. Over the next weeks I want to focus on some long-term writing projects outside the blog and so will mostly be reposting someContinueContinue reading “A solution to political decay: the ordinary virtues of governing well”
An interlude on Solzhenitsyn
Prophets are despised in their own country, and now and then I am tempted deeply by Cassandra’s fate. So in appreciation of true prophets and great writers, who formed my understanding of the world as a young man, here are some brief testimonies of Alexander Solzhenitsyn. “If one is forever cautious, can one remain aContinueContinue reading “An interlude on Solzhenitsyn”
On the virtue of not knowing (WordPress anniversary repost)
Today I am posting the last (for now) of my reposts from earlier, retired blogs. This post comes from 2010 and is a reflection on Vaclav Havel’s thought, then still alive, and comment on the defeat of the masters of the universe in the global financial crisis. As it happens I read Havel’s famous longContinueContinue reading “On the virtue of not knowing (WordPress anniversary repost)”
My wordpress 11th anniversary retrospective: 3 dilemmas of government
I am continuing my blogging retrospective today by reposting a small think-piece from The Happy Pessimist blog. If I have done my digital erasure correctly, you will not find any record of this blog online. I wrote it using the avatar pseudonym of Antonio Possevino, a Jesuit priest, diplomat and missionary of the 16th century.ContinueContinue reading “My wordpress 11th anniversary retrospective: 3 dilemmas of government”
11 years with WordPress – from the archive: Good Government Starts Today
Earlier this week I got a message from WordPress that I had passed my 11th anniversary as a blogger on the platform. I began with an anonymous blog, The Happy Pessimist, which I began amidst a bout of doubts about my public service career, which led me to embrace the political essay in its newContinueContinue reading “11 years with WordPress – from the archive: Good Government Starts Today”
Reflections on the emergence of Jordan B Peterson
#1 – One recent Jordan B Peterson podcast is his appearance at the Aspen Ideas Festival. His interlocutor begins by asking a genuinely interesting question. How does he understand his rise through the culture not only to prominence but to a remarkable kind of phenomenon. There are many tiresome commentaries on how Dr Peterson isContinueContinue reading “Reflections on the emergence of Jordan B Peterson”
Renovating the Burning Archive
I have spent the morning renovating the Burning Archive. A new theme changes the look and will feature more posts on the landing page so that you can sample more of my writing. I have also added several pages that gather together the main categories of my writing. My poetry collections features links to theContinueContinue reading “Renovating the Burning Archive”
Craft, voice and the fire
“We all know poetry isn’t a craft that you can just turn on and off. It has to strike fire somewhere, and truth, maybe unpleasant truth about yourself, may be the thing that does that.” Robert Lowell, from a letter quoted in Setting the River on Fire: A Study of Genius, Mania, and Character (2017) byContinueContinue reading “Craft, voice and the fire”
A thousand thanks
Some time in the last couple of weeks the counter on my wordpress visitor stats clocked over one thousand. So this is a short post to say thank you to all those readers – presumably not one thousand readers, but one thousand visitors. When I commenced this blog back in July 2015 – nearly threeContinueContinue reading “A thousand thanks”
Fragments on tradition
Today’s cultures are both disintegrating and proliferating. Any writer has to hand the near infinite profusion of symbolic thought of every culture across history. They are there to be used with the simplicity of an internet search. But their readiness-to-hand does not make them vital traditions, but cut and paste decorations of the modern soulContinueContinue reading “Fragments on tradition”
The reenchantment of the world
This morning I feel stuck for words. A heat wave has exhausted me, and the end of my holidays looms. To regather my strength I have been reading over old posts, old poems, and contemplating what keeps me going on. From the movie The Darkest Hour a quote from Churchill (although its provenance is challenged)ContinueContinue reading “The reenchantment of the world”
More reflections on 2017: persistence, terror and Das Schloss
Persistence Twelve months ago I was approaching Christmas and the end of a liberating period of long service leave. It was a period of leave that rejuvenated my writing and my living. It returned a sense of adventure and courage to my cultural life. I found a way through this blog to weave together myContinueContinue reading “More reflections on 2017: persistence, terror and Das Schloss”
Reflections on 2017
The year is drawing to a close, and while it is yet weeks from New Year, the office christmas party season is in full swing, and my mind is turning to an upcoming holiday. I am approaching the end of my current assignment and am going into my annual leave without knowing what I willContinueContinue reading “Reflections on 2017”
Self-portrait in a time of hunger
“The storm of progress now threatens to burn the remaining archives of human memory. In an infinite set of information, no tradition holds fast. Where then does the Orphean writer look, if not like this angel towards the past, while being blown irresistibly forward by a fire storm?” This blogger, July 2015, (his first postContinueContinue reading “Self-portrait in a time of hunger”