The French term folie a deux was used originally to describe two people who shared a common psychosis. It literally means ‘the madness of two.’ Individuals who have this condition somehow manage to pass on their delusions to a third party, and the two go on to act out the symptoms in tandem. More recently, the term has been used in certain…
Tag: Graham Greene
I once wrote a blog claiming writer’s block didn’t exist. Having spent several days staring at a blank page, I feel compelled to revise that opinion. There is something utterly disheartening about sitting in front of a laptop with nothing to say. The initial enthusiasm has long since died. The characters and scenes you’ve had in your mind for so…
The Words of Wisdom Interview – a series of interviews with writers and artists, to discover their methods, dreams and inspiration.
No.2 – James Manlow
James studied English Literature and Experience of Writing at the University of Derby. He then went on to do an MA in Creative Writing at the University of East Anglia, where he was tutored by Andrew Motion. He has had poetry published in the Independent, and magazines such as Poetry Review, The North, The Shop (Ireland) and St Ann’s Review (US): his poem The Lazy Maid won second place in the UK National Poetry Competition. His novel Attraction was published in the UK by John Murray Publishers (Hodder Headline). He is currently working on his second novel.
Saul Bellow made some interesting comments about the novel in an interview with The Paris Review. Literal truth versus artistic licence. ‘Literalism, factualism,’ he said. ‘will smother the imagination altogether.’ Do we, as writers, attempt to recreate the physical world down to the minutest detail, or do we accept the limitations of this approach and opt for a more free-flowing…