Stuart Arnot
@strtarnt.bsky.social
Reading, mostly, sometimes listening, almost never writing or playing.
He/him. Newcastle upon Tyne.
He/him. Newcastle upon Tyne.
Page-turnery chuckles, easier reading than his more youthful work.
December 1, 2025 at 10:12 PM
Page-turnery chuckles, easier reading than his more youthful work.
Sixty years ago, Penguin Books could just go ahead and publish a book that stated that the main problem with Communists was that they were talking and compromising too much instead of taking up arms against capital. The reviews on the back of this include the New York Times, the TLS and the Guardian
November 30, 2025 at 9:07 PM
Sixty years ago, Penguin Books could just go ahead and publish a book that stated that the main problem with Communists was that they were talking and compromising too much instead of taking up arms against capital. The reviews on the back of this include the New York Times, the TLS and the Guardian
Young, red Roth, fierce and disillusioned.
November 27, 2025 at 4:26 PM
Young, red Roth, fierce and disillusioned.
Finished this earlier today. Very nicely written, balanced, and illuminating.
November 25, 2025 at 11:04 PM
Finished this earlier today. Very nicely written, balanced, and illuminating.
I read this. Horrifying, really, and brilliant.
November 20, 2025 at 10:58 PM
I read this. Horrifying, really, and brilliant.
So dense, but somehow light rather than dark. Not sure I can articulate it properly, which is, in itself, apposite.
November 19, 2025 at 10:17 PM
So dense, but somehow light rather than dark. Not sure I can articulate it properly, which is, in itself, apposite.
I finished reading the third of these novels, 'The Whole Armour', another absolute feat.
November 15, 2025 at 9:02 AM
I finished reading the third of these novels, 'The Whole Armour', another absolute feat.
A good while ago, I read a lot of the early 20th C French avantgarde - Jarry, Roussel, etc., but never read Apollinaire. Fantasy-biographical main feature was particularly fun, and none was as horny as I'd imagined (feared?) it would be.
November 9, 2025 at 11:43 PM
A good while ago, I read a lot of the early 20th C French avantgarde - Jarry, Roussel, etc., but never read Apollinaire. Fantasy-biographical main feature was particularly fun, and none was as horny as I'd imagined (feared?) it would be.
Funny/nasty/preposterous. Finger included to escape the nipple censor.
November 2, 2025 at 9:08 PM
Funny/nasty/preposterous. Finger included to escape the nipple censor.
Picaresque and witty till it's not, but still is.
November 1, 2025 at 8:44 PM
Picaresque and witty till it's not, but still is.
Perplexing and incredible, structurally, thematically, and totally.
![Paperback book, Cane, by Jean Toomer. With a new afterword by Rudolph P. Byrd and Henry Louis Gates, jr. With quote from Alice Walker, "[Cane] has been reverberating in me to an astonishing degree. I love it passionately; could not possibly exist without it."](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:o763ufl4hepf7jbobafzjt3v/bafkreihbwkv6eh55y3x7gglqi4phygzjvuqaltwxpz3sqxmq6zxm5s3p5u@jpeg)
October 27, 2025 at 11:36 PM
Perplexing and incredible, structurally, thematically, and totally.
Charming, sad, and serious.
October 25, 2025 at 12:29 PM
Charming, sad, and serious.
Picked up a cache of Roth that I hadn't read from Keel Row in Whitley Bay on Saturday. His contempt for the stupidity, cowardliness and self-serving perfidy of these people leeches through the pleasantries a bit more than in later works, I think.
October 21, 2025 at 8:58 PM
Picked up a cache of Roth that I hadn't read from Keel Row in Whitley Bay on Saturday. His contempt for the stupidity, cowardliness and self-serving perfidy of these people leeches through the pleasantries a bit more than in later works, I think.
Really funny and smart, 1974 precursor to post-soul brigade, but more Oulipan?
October 19, 2025 at 9:10 PM
Really funny and smart, 1974 precursor to post-soul brigade, but more Oulipan?
Brutal and hypnotic. I feel sure a reference to Ellison's invisible man is of some significance. Like Sartre's tree root scene extrapolated wildly, inverted and played alongside itself.
October 16, 2025 at 8:29 PM
Brutal and hypnotic. I feel sure a reference to Ellison's invisible man is of some significance. Like Sartre's tree root scene extrapolated wildly, inverted and played alongside itself.
Read these short stories.
October 11, 2025 at 2:38 PM
Read these short stories.
Read the fourth of these Novels, 'The Afternoon of Mr. Andesmas'. Such a characteristic pacing, pointing toward her later work, but still very separate, as are the others in this collection, from the point she'd eventually get to.
October 10, 2025 at 7:47 PM
Read the fourth of these Novels, 'The Afternoon of Mr. Andesmas'. Such a characteristic pacing, pointing toward her later work, but still very separate, as are the others in this collection, from the point she'd eventually get to.
Finished this. Multi-faceted - I devoured it pretty quickly - but one facet that sticks is the dessicate-dry wit with which it is coloured.
October 8, 2025 at 8:30 PM
Finished this. Multi-faceted - I devoured it pretty quickly - but one facet that sticks is the dessicate-dry wit with which it is coloured.
Read the second of these novels, 'The Far Journey of Oudin'. Remarkable time-play, a chronology like risset tones.
October 6, 2025 at 9:26 PM
Read the second of these novels, 'The Far Journey of Oudin'. Remarkable time-play, a chronology like risset tones.
Compelling but knotty and complicated in its position. Cedric Robinson's introduction helped tease that out a bit. I wish John A. Williams' introduction from the 60s edition had been included too.
October 3, 2025 at 10:54 PM
Compelling but knotty and complicated in its position. Cedric Robinson's introduction helped tease that out a bit. I wish John A. Williams' introduction from the 60s edition had been included too.
I had never before read Coetzee, and was convinced to do so by GC Spivak.
September 28, 2025 at 8:37 AM
I had never before read Coetzee, and was convinced to do so by GC Spivak.
More optimistic complement to recent Mbembe reading.
September 26, 2025 at 3:44 PM
More optimistic complement to recent Mbembe reading.
Mbembe is overwhelming. Insightful, prescient, gutting.
September 23, 2025 at 9:37 PM
Mbembe is overwhelming. Insightful, prescient, gutting.
I was thinking, recently, about how Percival Everett is like Anthony Braxton. How the works of both are like millefeuille of serious/funny/ironic/earnest pastry, and, more prosaically, they've just got similar vibes/looks, etc. So imagine my surpriseb when, in this novel *SPOILER ALERT*, the...
September 20, 2025 at 8:09 PM
I was thinking, recently, about how Percival Everett is like Anthony Braxton. How the works of both are like millefeuille of serious/funny/ironic/earnest pastry, and, more prosaically, they've just got similar vibes/looks, etc. So imagine my surpriseb when, in this novel *SPOILER ALERT*, the...
A real thriller/killer
September 16, 2025 at 9:42 PM
A real thriller/killer