About the Blogs of a Literary Activist

This blog, and its less happy(in mood) companion, “Decayetude”http://decayetude.wordpress.com/, are experiments, a kind of divertissement of variegated styles of writing(styles sometimes simultaneously enacted, sometimes different in each piece/movement).Sincerely felt and meant, it is informed and influenced ,I fully acknowledge,first and foremost by the ineffably diverse and beautiful, all-world-encompassing writings of the late, great W G Sebald(who I feel is my soul-mate in writing, not that I am by any means an equal; just a fellow-traveller); by Walter Benjamin; by Ishiguro’s work “the Unconsoled”; and by rhizomatic style (and sometimes content)in general.

It is concerned , also, with:

1.the reparation from marginalization/invisibilization of lgbt pre-Woolfenden enactment(1967)texts. A sort of, if you like REDEMPTION(in a non-hierarchical-religion; rather a generally spiritual sense)

2.The development of a dialogue between lgbt studies and Queer Theory(and an attempt to differentiate between the two strands of the latter); and

3.(related to 2 ):the avoidance, as far as possible of binary-type thinking, eg allowing lgbt thought/politics to run PARALLEL with Queer Theory, serving different, sometimes overlapping ends.

I am interested in the DISSOLUTION of genres, both in content and style, and , in this connection, the breaking down of the false, unnecessary divide between subjective and “objective”;also-related again-the Birth of the Reader and the concomitant(partial not total) Death of the Author, ie reader response theory, is paramount.

Photographic images are used to counterpoint and illustrate the written themes and content.

I also aim to attempt to(at least) BEGIN to deconstruct another false, socially and hegemonically constructed binary- between academic writing and essayistic, impressionistic, rhizomatic and (at least partly) subjective writing(emblemised in Sebald’s “Place in the Country” volume of essays). The academic establishment does not much allow for the disruption of this binary and , ironically, has developed a Foucauldian discourse of its own, which-enjoyably challenging and exciting as it often is-can be inherently competetive and dialectically based. You will not always find, on these blogs, detailed antitheses to others’ theses, as the “progress” of academic discourse dictates; though, of course, the syntheses of academic and philosophical and critical theory writing can often launch a bringing together of threads,and a moving forward of any debate or construct of thought,( be it towards{any kind of} Utopia or otherwise). Rather my writing is an attempt(at least!)at an OVERVIEW of ideas and constructs, its primary aim being to make LINKS beween areas of critical thought, and literary criticism.

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There are also some efforts at actual “creative writing”, though the definitional status of “creative”is, I am beginning to see, negotiable, not fixed, and can include critical theory, philosophy, literary criticism, deconstructing and re-constructing ideas, for instance, and the various, cross/multi genres I attempt

And, finally, the blogs are overtly and deeply POLITICAL in the personal is political and , I hope, the larger scope sense, especially around lgbt equality issues. Literary activist might seem at first glance a mainly oxymoronic term,but I think critical thought and reflection INFORMS and helps create constructive responses in the real world, so that we challenge the status quo, especially where it is in dysfunction; challenge it through constructive reflection on what has gone wrong before and how we can learn. Thus we can learn from the lives of the marginalised and invisibilised characters of, for instance, Sebald’s prose fictions; and make sure that such gross inequality for lgbt people does not happen again in the UK, and that we must therefore fight for equality in other, even less liberal countries.

UPDATE: I have writings in 2 publications:

1. “MADE UP:Writing from Merseyside LGBT Creative Writing Group”(2018) here(Paperback and kindle) https://www.amazon.co.uk/Made-Up-anthology-Liverpool-Merseyside/dp/1542462959/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1516913913&sr=1-1&keywords=made+up+lgbt and https://www.amazon.co.uk/Made-Up-anthology-Liverpool-Merseyside-ebook/dp/B078XRT94P/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1516918373&sr=1-1&keywords=made+up+lgbt+kindle
2. “Your World Pride Story” (2017).Kindle only. I am Steven Benson https://www.amazon.co.uk/Whats-Your-World-Pride-Story-ebook/dp/B074JCKHKR/ref=sr_1_fkmr2_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1516918481&sr=8-2-fkmr2&keywords=whats+Your+world+pride+story+paperback