Lead Igloo | Stories, Philosophy, Opinion
Mill’s On Liberty dedication
To the beloved and deplored memory of her who was the inspirer, and in part the author, of all that is best in my writings – the friend and wife whose exalted sense of truth and right was my strongest incitement, and whose approbation was my chief reward – I dedicate this volume. Like all [...]
The swift ants of India – extract from The Histories
Others however of the Indians are on the borders of the city of Caspatyros and the country of Pactyïke, dwelling towards the North of the other Indians; and they have a manner of living nearly the same as that of the Bactrians: these are the most warlike of the Indians, and these are they who [...]
Shells, bones and silence – extract from The Waves
‘Having dropped off satisfied like a child from the breast, I am at liberty now to sink down, deep, into what passes, this omnipresent, general life. (How much, let me note, depends upon trousers; the intelligent head is entirely handicapped by shabby trousers.) One observes curious hesitations at the door of the lift. This way, [...]
The Transformation of Io – extract from Ovid’s Metamorphoses
If only words could have followed her tears she’d have begged him for help;
she’d have told him her hame and described her plight. Two letters were all
that could serve for words, two letters traced by a hoof in the dust,
which revealed her name and her sorry transformation.
‘Woe and alas!’ old Inachus replied, as he tenderly [...]
Keith – Novel extract
While the barman pulled my beer, I looked around. Nearby, waiting to be served next, was a large man in a polo shirt and shorts, fingering his wallet. The bar lights made shadows on his face and chest, accentuating his size. On the side of the bar was a door, obviously to the pokie room. [...]
Another presence – Extract from An Imaginary Life
Almost immediately, in the golden light of a fine autumn day, with the sky broken in rainpools among the drifts of yellow leaves, he is there, standing quite still and taller after two years among the slashed birches. I am filled with joy. He is there. He is real. The others see him too. He [...]
The City of Brass part II – extract from The Arabian Nights
The Emir said to his Wazir Talib bin Sahl and to the chief officers about him, “How shall we contrive to enter this city and view its marvels?: haply we shall find therein wherewithal to win the favour of the Commander of the Faithful.” “Allah prolong the Emir’s fortune!” replied Talib, “let us make a [...]
The City of Brass – extract from The Arabian Nights
The Emir Musa asked the Shaykh, “What is yonder vast blackness and its twin fires?”; and the guide answered, “Rejoice O Emir, for this is the City of Brass, as it is described in the Book of Hidden Treasures which I have by me. Its walls are of black stone and it hath two towers [...]
Chieko’s sadness – extract from The Old Capital
Takichiro was drinking festival sake with a guest in the back room. He was not so much drinking as keeping him company. Shige was up and down waiting on them.
“I’m home,” Chieko said.
“You’re early.” Shige looked at her daughter. Chieko greeted her father’s guest.
“Mother, I’m sorry I was too late to help out here.”
“That’s all [...]
The greatest humiliation of his life
“Undoubtedly Dante himself had envisioned this meeting differently. Nothing in the preceding pages indicates that the greatest humiliation of his life awaits him here.” By Theophil Spoerri, taken from ‘The Meeting in a Dream’, one of Jorge Luis Borges’s Dantesque Essays.
Purgatorio: Canto XXX
When the Septentrion of the highest heaven
(Which never either setting knew or [...]