Author: The Haphazard Writer

Our Mother

I am saddenedby the blackened bonesshattered windowsbloody glassfallen spirethe three thousandsix hundredand forty onecountedon le nuit de la solidarité who may have shifted closer to those flamesfor warmththe night Our Mother Burned.

Introducing: Handsome Tyb

He cut through an alley between two equally loud taverns to avoid the crowds, and almost immediately tripped over something small and very dirty. Its matted fur was covered in mud and more besides. But rather than yowl as a disgruntled cat might, the creature gave a feeble mew and remained where it had been, … Continue reading Introducing: Handsome Tyb →

The Problematic Emancipatory Hope of The New Science in Lane’s Mizora

Reimagining the Natural: Putting the World to Rights in the Fictional Ecotones of Cavendish, Lane, and Le Guin Part 3

Margaret Cavendish’s Blazing World and the Fallacy of the New Science

Re-Imagining the Natural: Putting the World to Rights in the Fictional Ecotones of Cavendsih, Lane, and Le Guin, Part 2

Re-imagining the Natural: Putting the World to Rights in the Fictional Ecotones of Cavendish, Lane, and Le Guin (Introduction)

A feminist reading of interconnected women's fantastic science-fiction utopias through the lens of Cavendish's Observations which traces the cross-temporal approaches to gendered knowledge production. Using Cixous’ ‘écriture feminine’ as a guide to identify common linguistic and formal tactics for the outmanoeuvring of masculine discourse, this work posits fantasy and science-fiction as ‘ecotones’ of past and future resistance to dominant hegemonic forces, asserting the importance of the imagination as a subversive means of ‘knowing’ the world.

Women’s Knowledge, Magic, and the Patriarchy

So last week someone sent me this video, and frankly, if you haven't watched it, you should. I'm not just doing Philosophy Tube's promo for him here. The reason I am posting this video here is because it reminded me of an essay I had written at the beginning of my MA which I think … Continue reading Women’s Knowledge, Magic, and the Patriarchy →

I should be doing more

By my twenties I was a student at Yale, studied at the French Lycee in Berlin spoke several languages and travelled to London to study classics. I barely knew my privilege before I was cut off.   Never imagined I’d end up in a Soho hotel room sick and dirty invaded by strangers Tiffany wedding … Continue reading I should be doing more →

Morning

Its a quarter to threeWednesday morningthe blinds rolled upas they have been for daysand I open my eyes to seethe light of a half moonshine throughmy double glazed window panesAnd I starewide awakeat her motherly glowblissful for a momentas I lay thereletting go.

The White Knight in the Shrubbery

I'd seen him many a time beforealways looking across the roomacross fields and crowdsand I just turned awayand hoped he'd find some other belle to smotherwith those muddy eyes.He never did, of course.He bought a dark green cloakand followed me at nightas I crept from my parents' house.No doubt he thought himself cleveryou seeI always went … Continue reading The White Knight in the Shrubbery →

Rehab

It’s that part of the summer right before the heat gets too much. My cotton dress is translucent with sweat, clinging to my skin. The deckchair smells faintly like sun-cream and the afternoon sun is burning sunset shades and disks behind my eyelids. Mike is coming home. Michael. I smile and squint up at the … Continue reading Rehab →