alisoncroggon - Network

Okay, if anything goes wrong in moving house you can find me at @alisoncroggon@zirk.us

Okay, if anything goes wrong in moving house you can find me at @alisoncroggon@zirk.us

I'm seriously thinking of moving to another instance so be prepared for a couple of days of me being confused....

I'm seriously thinking of moving to another instance so be prepared for a couple of days of me being confused....

BLACK SPRING is my go at #Gothic - a rewrite of Wuthering Heights with added elements drawn from Ismael Kadare's Broken April and the...

BLACK SPRING is my go at #Gothic - a rewrite of Wuthering Heights with added elements drawn from Ismael Kadare's Broken April and the rest - magic, really grim wizards, the horror of patriarchy - coming from me.

I wrote about the process of writing the book for Readings in 2012: https://www.readings.com.au/news/the-story-of-my-book-black-spring-by-alison-croggon

The cover below is for the Australian edition - it also came out in the US and UK with a slightly more romantic cover - and remains my favourite.

#FridayBook

I'm going to attempt a regular #FridayBook post. Starting with old books of mine but also including books I'm reading. It's been...

I'm going to attempt a regular #FridayBook post. Starting with old books of mine but also including books I'm reading. It's been ages since I did any sort of blogging...but microblogging might work?

If any Freudians can explain why Gaddafi kept turning up in full dress uniform in my dreams last night, give me a hoy

If any Freudians can explain why Gaddafi kept turning up in full dress uniform in my dreams last night, give me a hoy

So I’ve defaulted to mastodon.social because that’s the server I joined in 2018. And moving seems quite transparent and straightforward....

So I’ve defaulted to mastodon.social because that’s the server I joined in 2018. And moving seems quite transparent and straightforward. And yet, should I? What are the pros and cons of moving to another server?

A reminder that us new arrivals should pay the rent (if we can afford it) and support the no doubt stressed and very busy people currently...

A reminder that us new arrivals should pay the rent (if we can afford it) and support the no doubt stressed and very busy people currently coping with the #twitter influx to their instances - many have patreons or accept donations. No billionaires here

“With every year, we're more conscious of the fact that those around us are going through the same existential crisis that we are....

“With every year, we're more conscious of the fact that those around us are going through the same existential crisis that we are. We're talking about it more openly, sharing survival strategies, we're compassionate in ways we never were. ‘Those who have suffered understand suffering, and thereby lend a hand. The storm that brings harm also makes fertile. Blessed is the grass and the herb of thorn and light.’” Playwright David Finnigan https://t.co/eGv2sqCoOI

Content warning:MigraineI like Oliver Sacks' word - I'm not sure if it's his coinage - "migraineur". It suggests this...

Content warning:Migraine

I like Oliver Sacks' word - I'm not sure if it's his coinage - "migraineur". It suggests this strange affliction is a kind of journey. Which it is. Migraines are much odder than you think. For example, I couldn't finish Sacks' book Migraine because I started manifesting symptoms described in the book. They're so much more holistic than you realise, too. I wish I didn't have them - I'm recovering from one now - but they are fascinating neurological storms

Content warning:GrumbleGoddam the end of year exhaustion is bearing down hard, my brain feels like it’s constantly short circuiting. My...

Content warning:Grumble

Goddam the end of year exhaustion is bearing down hard, my brain feels like it’s constantly short circuiting. My theory of 2022 is that we - all of us - haven’t had time or space to process any of the trauma since 2016 and it’s all piling up in front of us like the angel of history

I don’t have a top shelf but here are the posh hardbacks #mytopshelf

I don’t have a top shelf but here are the posh hardbacks #mytopshelf

Rilke is obviously haunting me this week, thank you zeitgeist. Listening to Jane Sheldon's ethereal settings of Rilke's The Books of...

Rilke is obviously haunting me this week, thank you zeitgeist. Listening to Jane Sheldon's ethereal settings of Rilke's The Books of Hours on her newly released album I am a tree, I am a mouth #poetry #music https://open.spotify.com/album/0FpGVtsv0Oqn3eExauuZ4b?si=NZGJO9ciThOqzW0xbsMkxg

Beginning to feel like this is good? Following following following and my timeline is so interesting and also there are all these custom cat...

Beginning to feel like this is good? Following following following and my timeline is so interesting and also there are all these custom cat emojis

If you sign up to The Arts newsletter, you get paywall-free access to the in-depth cultural coverage in The Saturday Paper and The Monthly...

If you sign up to The Arts newsletter, you get paywall-free access to the in-depth cultural coverage in The Saturday Paper and The Monthly every Tuesday https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/newsletters

"Rather than waiting for the so-called global public square to reach a new equilibrium in the private marketplace, policy makers and...

"Rather than waiting for the so-called global public square to reach a new equilibrium in the private marketplace, policy makers and community leaders would do well to use this moment to consider how we might create functional communal spaces online that can realistically serve large groups. They will not look the same as the spaces we had before, and that is perhaps for the better" - the inimitible Lizzie O'Shea and Lilly Ryan in Overland journal https://overland.org.au/2022/11/the-fall-of-twitter-and-the-work-of-creating-democratic-social-spaces/

Trying out Metatext for an app and it seems pretty usable

Trying out Metatext for an app and it seems pretty usable

The Unseen Saul Leiter, featuring newly discovered photographs, arrived in the house today. Gorgeous book featuring a wonderful...

The Unseen Saul Leiter, featuring newly discovered photographs, arrived in the house today. Gorgeous book featuring a wonderful photographer, one of my favourites

#photography #visualart

Since the late 90s, I always more or less primarily used social media for thinking out loud/thinking with others (plus...

Since the late 90s, I always more or less primarily used social media for thinking out loud/thinking with others (plus jokes/games/complaining and other random impulses). I’ve been doing that less and less over the years tho, I guess in-process contemplation just felt more and more fraught in sm spaces. Anyway, it feels kind of expansive here, it’s nice, even nostalgic

Not even sure if any of that is Rilke's fault. He was born into a time as fucked as ours is in which the possibilities for the...

Not even sure if any of that is Rilke's fault. He was born into a time as fucked as ours is in which the possibilities for the (European) self were much more circumscribed than they are now and forged a way through, though not without violence. I guess it's also like reading Lou Salome, from here it's easier to see the chains than the ways they broke them open

I spent 20 years translating Rilke's Duino Elegies and still believe those poems were worth that time and patience and love - and yet I...

I spent 20 years translating Rilke's Duino Elegies and still believe those poems were worth that time and patience and love - and yet I get so impatient with everything around Rilke, what is that? Is it that he seems to so fundamentally misunderstand himself? That like all of us he is so hampered and stifled by the times in which he was born? The myths that billow up around him/that he also created? Honestly don't know