Introduction to Literary Perspective

A beginner's introduction to literary perspective. I'm putting some of my old lectures online on my website. You can find the rest of the Literary Perspective unit here, and more writing units here.

Sex at Dawn

I picked this up because it sounded interesting:

Since Darwin's day, we've been told that sexual monogamy comes naturally to our species. Mainstream science - as well as religious and cultural institutions - has maintained that men and women evolved in families in which a man's possessions and protection were exchanged for a woman's fertility and fidelity. But this narrative is collapsing. Fewer and fewer couples are getting married, and divorce rates keep climbing as adultery and flagging libido drag down even seemingly solid marriages.

How can reality be reconciled with the accepted narrative? It can't be, according to renegade thinkers Christopher Ryan and Cacilda Jetha. While debunking almost everything we "know" about sex, they offer a bold alternative explanation in this provocative and brilliant book.

Ryan and Jetha's central contention is that human beings evolved in egalitarian groups that shared food, child care, and, often, sexual partners. Weaving together convergent, frequently overlooked evidence from anthropology, archaeology, primatology, anatomy, and psychosexuality, the authors show how far from human nature monogamy really is. Human beings everywhere and in every era have confronted the same familiar, intimate situations in surprisingly different ways. The authors expose the ancient roots of human sexuality while pointing toward a more optimistic future illuminated by our innate capacities for love, cooperation, and generosity.

A very enlightening read. I certainly wouldn't say I'm surprised by the findings, but there were some really interesting facts in there that I'd never heard before. I particularly liked the look at other, non-monogamous cultures in the world, which is something never discussed during sex-ed at school. There was one culture in China, the Mosuo, where women have their own bedrooms with a door onto the street and they can invite any man in that they choose, provided he is gone by morning. Any children conceived are brought up in the woman's household, removing male rivalry over lineage. It sounds like a very nice idea, and a peaceful way of life. 

There's a tribe in South America which believes the more sperm a woman receives whilst pregnant, the more skills and strengths a child will develop from each of the men. There's the first father, who plants the seed, and the other fathers who contribute to stirring the pot. In tribal cultures, children raised in non-monogamous families, where many men, rather than one, have a vested interest in the child's wellbeing and growth, have better survival odds than when only one man is there (or not) to help raise the child.

"Yes, but we're living in the modern world," you might say, "not in a tribe!" Well, we might think we are, but our physiology says something very different. From the size and shape of our genitals, through to why women are louder than men during sex, it all points to our biology being more closely matched with non-monogamous primates than monogamous ones. Far more similar to the bonobo than the gibbon.

Something else that was fascinating - and tragic - was the effect of the contraceptive pill on women's sense of smell. I remember watching Dr. Winston perform the T-shirt test on TV when I was in my teens. This is where he sniffs a bunch of T-shirts that women have been wearing, and orders them by the smell he most prefers. At the end, it's revealed that ranking them by smell also ranks them, almost exactly, as the most genetically compatible for producing a healthy baby.

Women have the same ability to sniff out a genetically compatible mate - unless they're on the pill. Then, apparently, it reverses the attraction. It's one theory for why so many women go off their husbands after childbirth. Whilst on the pill and looking to get laid, they like the smell of him, but once they come off the pill to get pregnant, the reality hits their nostrils. As the book asks: how many women have only just realised they're not compatible with their partner once it's too late? That's quite something to think about.

Anyway, a really interesting read, which makes a lot of logical connections when it comes to male infidelity, mid-life crises, female attraction and sexuality, and a host of other important points. Definitely worth a look. Though, if you're in a relationship, it might not make for easy reading.

Akkad at 90k

I'm taking a couple of weeks off work to focus entirely on writing.

Just taken Akkad over the 90,000 mark. That, to me, is the baseline for a solid novel. I can now call it 'my novel.' However, there's still a substantial way to go. I sensed this would be a long one when I started. I began playing with the idea almost two years ago, but didn't start writing seriously until October last year. It's come a long way since then, although progress has been slow as I've been fitting it in around work. 

As with any work in progress (WIP), I know the first three chapters really well, and the last couple of days, but, over the span of six months, I've forgotten most of what happens in the middle, so I'm excited to start the edit and remind myself. 

The longest novel I've ever written was Children of Lir, which is about 120,000 words. I reckon this will be similar or a little longer. For those who know Sumerian history, I'm building up to the final showdown between Sargon and Lugal Zage-Si. Sargon is widely known as the first man in history to found an empire, but he did that by defeating another man, Zage-Si, who was already well on his way to doing the same thing. The records don't really explain why Sargon and Zage-Si fell out, so I'm having fun inventing that bit. 

On with the writing...

Ancient Near Eastern Historical Fiction Prize Shortlist

 

I received the lovely news the other day that I've been a little bit shortlisted for the first ever Near Eastern Historical Fiction Prize:

Congratulations, your entry has been shortlisted... We had a large amount of submissions for our inaugural competition (we have spent the last month reading countless stories) so this is a real achievement, well done!

I'm having a lovely time reading the other entries, which have been published on their website. Love Roxanne Gregory's futuristic evolution of Google and Wikipedia merging into Ooogle-iki. That needs to be a thing.

Now the hardest part of all, trying to put this out of my mind until the winner is announced later in the month.

[UPDATE: I won this!]

Descriptive Writing

A little lecture I gave on descriptive writing. If you'd like to take the whole descriptive writing unit and do the exercise that goes with it, head over to my website. I'm putting a few of my creative writing units from the university online under the WRITING101 heading.

Mansfield Park

 

Amazon were giving this away, so I took a copy. It's still in my library, but when I click on it to copy the blurb, I now get, 'We're really sorry, this product isn't available.' So, I'm not really sure what happened there. Here's the blurb from another copy:

Taken from the poverty of her parents' home in Portsmouth, Fanny Price is brought up with her rich cousins at Mansfield Park, acutely aware of her humble rank and with her cousin Edmund as her sole ally. During her uncle's absence in Antigua, the Crawford's arrive in the neighbourhood bringing with them the glamour of London life and a reckless taste for flirtation. Mansfield Park is considered Jane Austen's first mature work and, with its quiet heroine and subtle examination of social position and moral integrity, one of her most profound.

I am not a massive Jane Austen aficionado. Like everybody, I do like Pride & Prejudice. Like many, I prefer the screen adaptation more than the book. Unlike many, I actually prefer the 2005 film to the 1995 TV series. I was 14 when the TV series came out and vividly remember my mum telling me to hush as I came into the living room just as the pond scene was about to take place. I did not understand it at the time, but came to in later life.

Other than that, I really don't know much Austen, which is shown by the fact I chose this one because I got it confused with Northanger Abbey. I really loved The Jane Austen Book Club, I mean, hugely so, and that made me want to read Northanger - but it quickly became apparent, this wasn't it.

And, on that total tangent, it was because Grigg read The Mysteries of Udolpho in The Jane Austen Book Club that I fell down the rabbit hole of Ann Radcliffe and picked up a copy of The Romance of the Forest. So, y'know, stuff leads to other stuff. 

Anyway, back to Mansfield Park.

Oh, no.

This one really wasn't for me.

Fanny Price and Edmund Bertrum just didn't seem to have anything about them that was interesting. I'm wondering whether the copy I received is an adaptation or unabridged, but either way - just no. A friend said it was a comedy, but I didn't laugh once. 

It didn't feel entirely developed. Henry Crawford seemed to go from being just a bit of a gadabout to being the worst kind of man in a couple of pages, doing a Wickham and running off with a married woman. Yet, I couldn't help thinking it was actually Crawford who dodged the bullet there. Fanny was just so boring.  Meanwhile, there's no reciprocal spark of romance from Edmund until five pages from the end when he suddenly declares his undying love. I mean, what now?

Bit of a snooze fest, sorry Austen. 

I loved P&P, the chemistry just sizzled through it, but this was a bit of a wet fish in comparison, and came right on the coat tails of the former's success. 

It's kind of put me off reading any more Austen.

[UPDATE: I feel slightly vindicated on this one, since apparently Austen's own mother called Fanny Price 'insipid'.]

Levenshulme Little Free Library

 

 

 

When COVID took over the world, my lovely friends Paul and Jeremy decided to set up a free library in their garden, in the  Mancunian suburb of Levenshulme. Paul is a writer and artist, who you might remember from booQfest, where Percy met Art Critic Panda.

In his own words (and art) this is how the library came about. Click on each image to enlarge:

 

We started it because we feel that books need to keep moving, in circulation, passed from hand to hand. I say this even as the world's worst hoarder and from inside a house heaving with books. But... in the summer last year we visited a new, local Free Library in Burnage - and just a few moments browsing some shelves that weren't mine - so deep into the pandemic and lockdown - well, it felt like bliss. I knew we had to help out creating a string of these LFL's across South Manchester. People need to be given books and they need to spend time with books. Just the act of rummaging and browsing and deciding what to read next feels very restorative and cheering, I think. And we love having the bookcase and the boxes outside our house. People stop by and they talk. Real people. I really do think books bring people together. - Paul Magrs

 
It's such a lovely idea and I would encourage anyone reading to consider starting a little local library of their own.