Author Archives: alasdairflett

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About alasdairflett

German & English Literature graduate. From Orkney. Interested in alternative and indie music, language, writing and politics.

Mid-March Musings

Posted on 15/03/2020 by alasdairflett

I am now a qualified lifeguard. Well, more accurately, I have a lifeguard qualification. I am not currently “practising” as a lifeguard, not yet being paid to guard life as it were. In my last post, I used the term … Continue reading →

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Toot-toot-toot! Lifeguard going in!

Posted on 20/02/2020 by alasdairflett

The year 2020 is in and I am reaching the end of my twenty third on this planet. Will Taylor Swift ever speak to me in the same way? I think at this stage I should firmly be considered an … Continue reading →

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Remembering Alasdair Gray

Posted on 05/01/2020 by alasdairflett

Artistic blooms tend to be triggered by seismic technological or political change. Where the first Scottish literary “renaissance” arrived as the result of the brutal shock to romantic sentiments the First World War had dealt, a new flurry of writing … Continue reading →

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2019 in retrospect

Posted on 01/01/2020 by alasdairflett

In January work began in earnest on my German dissertation. I was comparing the 1950s poetry of two of East Germany’s leading literary figures: Bertolt Brecht and Heiner Müller. The latter had been charged with unoriginality in contemporary criticism of … Continue reading →

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Mindforming Misattributions

Posted on 18/11/2019 by alasdairflett

I realise there’s no shame in being poor…but it’s no great honour either. The above quotation is from the musical Fiddler on the Roof and is spoken by the bumbling patriarch, Tevye before he launches into his song ‘If I … Continue reading →

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Orfeo

Posted on 27/10/2019 by alasdairflett

Sixty mile an hour gusts subsided; it was time to reopen the village. First, however, I would be consigned to the till, and stock reshuffling – replenishing puffin fledglings from a partially barren wicker basket and depositing fresh ova in … Continue reading →

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1979

Posted on 25/08/2019 by alasdairflett

I do not mean our political and civil liberties. They will endure. […] The threat is nearly invisible in ordinary ways. It is a crisis of confidence. It is a crisis that strikes at the very heart and soul and … Continue reading →

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Nynorn and beyond

Posted on 30/07/2019 by alasdairflett

Orkney: an interesting case study for historical linguists In the following, I’ll discuss my passion for historical linguistics and how this discipline is especially interesting in relation to Orkney and the now-extinct language of Norn. Firstly, I’d like to explain … Continue reading →

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Runic ramblings

Posted on 17/07/2019 by alasdairflett

Runes are more than writing, just as writing is more than the transcription of the spoken word. When someone carves a rune, they are doing more than just saving the game up to that point; they are casting their line … Continue reading →

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Brilliant yellow tinged with melancholy

Posted on 19/05/2019 by alasdairflett

University: complete. The opening of a new chapter, as they say. Of course, there are conditionals. A possible return is not ruled out in the long term, but for now postgraduate study is not in the immediate pipeline. What is … Continue reading →

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