History No thing these days is as it seems, And ideas… well, don’t trust them. I pore over the all too human follies Of dynasties and revolutions, And create like Casaubon a sterile wisdom. Into grey garners, I pour the husks of time. The vital seed has long since passed away. Lost in trash, I … Continue reading Poem: History
history of emotions
Borderlands of madness
Demi-fous. Mazeland. Dazeland. Driftland. Incipient lunatics. Hysterics. Neurotics. Carriers of latent brain disease. Neurasthenia. Sufferers of high prevalence disorders. People with shattered nerves. Stressed out kittens. The traumatised. The burnt ones. Melancholics. The worried well. There are so many names designating those who prowl in the borderlands between madness and reason. Some of these names are … Continue reading Borderlands of madness
From flashbacks to testimony – reflections on the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Childhood Sexual Abuse
In September last year I delivered a paper to a conference sponsored by a major research centre on the history of emotions. It was a step away for me from the hidden bureaucrat who never speaks in public or who does not share the depth and range of his thoughts. Perhaps I hoped it might … Continue reading From flashbacks to testimony – reflections on the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Childhood Sexual Abuse
The Burning Archive 