Tag Archives: philosophy

This cumulative kind of effect when you stop: an interview with Emily Maguire on Smoke in the Room, part one

In Smoke in the Room, three characters end up in a share house in Sydney. Katie works on instinct and is weighted by an overwhelming empathy. Adam, an American, is grieving and needs to save money to get home. Graeme, an aid worker, has rid himself of possessions and simplified his existence. In this novel, [...]

Adventures of the badge with the face of Albert Camus #1

Shop assistant: Who’s that?
Me: Albert Camus.
SA: Who?
Me: He’s a philosopher.
SA: What?
Me: A philosopher.
*shop assistant stares blankly*
Me: He’s a writer.
SA: Oh. Does he write poetry?
Me: No.
SA: What does he write?
Me: Philosophy, fiction.
*very long pause*
SA: Ha,ha, I’m such an airhead!

Literary Space – Damon Young

 

Damon Young, author of Distraction, says:
My study is actually one corner of our lounge. The room’s also an office for my wife Ruth, entertaining wing, tearoom, and playroom for my three-year-old-son, Nikos. It’s part writerly den, part Lego wonderland.
When our new baby’s born, it’ll also be a nursery. And, yes, the pram will be in [...]

A Very Short Introduction to the Absurd, My Absurd Moment, and Lester Burnham as Absurd Hero…

Albert Camus

The Myth of Sisyphus was one of those books I attacked with dog-ears and pen marks. Whole pages are underlined in my well-thumbed copy, which I revisited when writing my novel manuscript Smoke & Dancing, and recently for my thesis. I think about my own steps to lucidity, when I acknowledged life’s inherent contradictions, [...]