The Dream-Quest of Vellitt Boe

Kij Johnson, 2016

(June 2017)

It was only when I was about two-thirds of the way through this beautifully written novella that I learned it’s based on a H.P. Lovecraft story—The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath. (Related note: I must at some point actually read some Lovecraft.) By that point it’s pretty clear that we’re deep into that kind of territory, what with shifting skies, uncaring gods, and caverns full of ghouls and nightmare tentacle beasts. Johnson’s use of language is glorious, and it’s here wedded to a well-done but traditional quest narrative, which I suppose is fair enough, given the title. Even without a detailed knowledge of this book’s progenitor, it’s a couple of hours of joy. Recommended.

Very Short Introductions

Poststructuralism: A Very Short Introduction

Catherine Belsey, 2002

Postmodernism: A Very Short Introduction

Christopher Butler, 2002

(November 2013)

Derrida, Barthes, Foucault, oh my!

More Of The Same

While we’re on the subject of education, some interesting data sets here comparing educational environments in OECD countries. You can download the data and play with them yourselves, which is brilliant and something I might have a bash at properly when I’ve got a bit more time on my hands.

In the meantime though, three quick observations:

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland

and, Through the Looking Glass And What Alice Found There

Lewis Carroll, 1865, 1872

(May 2012)

Despite Jabberwocky being one of only two poems I can recite from memory, I only read (and saw) the Disneyfied version of Alice when I was younger, but bought the ‘real’ thing in uni. I was toying with an idea for my thesis – trying to extend the Red Queen hypothesis on dynamic equilibrium beyond biological evolution to cover social systems as well. My tutor, with depressing ease, convinced me that my ideas were a little too vague to base a research project on, and the book’s been on the shelf ever since.