a manifesto of sorts

When Kirsty at Other Stories invited me to write a review for her book blog, I was simultaneously flattered and flabergasted. What would I have to say and to whom? I have followed a few literary blogs since Mark Thwaite of ReadySteadyBook and dovegreyreader gave John Mullan a run for his money at the Oxford Literary Festival. While Mullan argued that the critic was a divine repository of literary knowledge, the bloggers gave an eloquent and erudite defence of Everyreader. It's an irrefutable fact that idiots abound, but mindlessly opinionated people are no more prolific on the interweb than in the press or--albeit disconcertingly--in the lofty spheres of the academy. It would be disingenuous to fail to confess that I have two feet planted firmly in the one world and am oh-so-tentatively testing the waters of the unfortunately named 'blogosphere'. Be ye forewarned, look not for bells and whistles here. (I can't even manage a hyperlink.) Rather, what you can expect is a straightforward approach to books and posts that attempt to balance visceral spontaneity with considered coherence. Good luck, you say.

The James Dickie poem, 'Kudzu' (which lends a quote to the title of this blog), is a vivid depiction of a foreign element, the Japanese vine, which is introduced to control and, to a certain extent, cultivate the unruly soil of the American South. The Kudzu is unexpectedly uncontrollable, shelters evil, and threatens to destabilise the quiet agrarian life. But just as it brings fear, it also gives strength, 'Such strength as you would not believe/ If you stood alone in a proper/ Shaved field among your safe cows'. I intend for this to be a space where the academic can meet the everyday and neither need fear the other but both can be empowered. It is not so esoteric as it seems. I come from a place where Oxford means Mississippi and Dublin means Georgia, and that's as far as people generally get. It's difficult to reconcile where I'm from with who I am, so maybe this will be a space where those worlds can meet as well.