Tag Archives: Orkney

“Victor, you’re the monster!” Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein reviewed

Posted on 09/11/2025 by alasdairflett

Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus is a novel that always brings me back. For me, it is the very best of what literature can be. I first read it for a university class. In the end, I don’t … Continue reading →

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The province and the metropole: Guy de Maupassant and ‘The Outrun’ reviewed

Posted on 06/10/2024 by alasdairflett

I was a couple of paragraphs into Guy de Maupassant’s short story Corsica when I had a sudden and vivid sense of déjà vu. Where had I read this before? Was it in an educational context? Perhaps at school? But … Continue reading →

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English Road

Posted on 30/08/2023 by alasdairflett

I wouldn’t exactly recommend the Camino Ingles in England, even though overall it was enjoyable. The route follows what is thought to be the path taken by pilgrims from the south before they departed from Great Britain and onto mainland … Continue reading →

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Memento Mori

Posted on 04/05/2022 by alasdairflett

This past month my summer and winter existences have overlapped. April brings custodial duties. I called myself a custodian on the census, although apparently “monument steward” was available. I am a castellan, a Steward of Gondor awaiting the Return of … Continue reading →

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“As a Roman arch survives the luxury of departed empire”

Posted on 26/06/2020 by alasdairflett

The title quote is taken from Arnold Bennett’s Old Wives’ Tale, an epic novel of 1908 whose essence can be distilled as the disastrous attempt of a lower middle class family to hold onto former Victorian glories while the structures … Continue reading →

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Charles

Posted on 09/04/2020 by alasdairflett

Charles was the first to move in at Hermit’s Croft student accommodation that fateful Saturday in September. His buzz cut look and austere apparel was not the combination of flowing locks and trim overcoats I would become used to over … 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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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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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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The bleary pilgrim

Posted on 21/08/2017 by alasdairflett

Bundled into the Corsa. Beltless, unshaven and woozy. Despite its lack of a working radio I still love this car. The defunct Blaupunkt reads “SAFE” in all-caps instead of channel, or frequency. It couldn’t display track number; in this respect, … Continue reading →

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