John Burnside on Ariadne http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/authors/john-burnside/ Recent content in John Burnside on Ariadne Hugo -- gohugo.io en-gb Sun, 19 Jan 1997 00:00:00 +0000 Burnside Writes http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue/7/burnside/ Sun, 19 Jan 1997 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue/7/burnside/ With elections approaching, there has been much talk about morality. By morality, I mean the peculiarly British fascination with sex, from Virginia Bottomley's attempts to prevent satellite stations broadcasting explicit sexual material, to a renewed interest in the views of Mary Whitehouse. In one sense a concern with the commodification of sex is A Good Thing - though I, for one, would worry if the power to decide what we may or may not view resided in the hands of a government minister or a self-appointed censor with her own, rather peculiar agenda. Burnside Writes http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue/6/burnside/ Tue, 19 Nov 1996 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue/6/burnside/ I remember my first history lessons as rather dull. At that time, teachers emphasised the importance of dates, as if those were the only facts that mattered, (looking back, I can see that these are the few 'facts' history has to offer). Though never an enthusiastic student, I managed to find something of interest in most subjects, but until a year before 0 Levels I contemplated the Tuesday afternoon double history period with foreboding. Burnside Writes http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue/5/burnside/ Wed, 18 Sep 1996 23:00:00 +0000 http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue/5/burnside/ It was Francis Bacon who said that knowledge is power. By knowledge I take him to mean the possession of, or the ability to access, information. In Bacon's time, I expect that the amount of information readily available to most people was limited. Some Bible stories, a few pictures and an endless supply of gossip and hearsay would probably be your lot. Even the top dogs at court would possess no more than a handful of books on hunting,hawking and the arts of war. Burnside Writes http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue/4/burnside/ Thu, 18 Jul 1996 23:00:00 +0000 http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue/4/burnside/ <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC “-//W3C//DTD HTML 3.2//EN”> Burnside Writes John Burnside writes John Burnside describes his first tentative step at Web page design… Having worked in the computer industry once, I still find myself scanning the IT jobs pages in newspapers, just to see what’s around. Force of habit, I suppose. Recently, what’s been interesting is the growing demand for web page developers, people who bring with them a certain design flair and, more importantly, an ability to develop the client’s web page as a corporate asset. Burnside Writes http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue/3/burnside/ Sat, 18 May 1996 23:00:00 +0000 http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue/3/burnside/ It's is one of those hot questions in the poetry world: does poetry work on the Web, and if so, how? How is electronically transmitted verse different from poetry read aloud, or scanned from a conventional book? Is there a magic in the book's physicality, in the smell and feel of it, in the intimacy of it all? In the end, I think there is. On the other hand, poets and poetry lovers can find good stuff on the Web, and in recent weeks, I've been drifting around, in a more or less random fashion, looking for the interesting sites. Burnside Writes http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue/2/john/ Tue, 19 Mar 1996 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue/2/john/ Last week I attended a talk given by Alec Finlay, publisher and guiding spirit of the Morning Star Folios for the last several years. The discussion centred on the book as an art form, as a beautiful object in itself, as something more than the sum of its parts. I was there for interest, partly because I am currently engaged in a collaboration with an artist, but mainly because I love books and knew there would be a fair number of fine examples to look at and handle and enjoy. John Burnside http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue/1/john/ Fri, 19 Jan 1996 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue/1/john/ It's no accident that the great classic of early Chinese literature is called The Book of Changes. In common with Heraclitus, this impressionistic text, while it is open to a wide variety of interpretations, insists on one key truth: that change, in all its manifestations, is the essence of life. Even the most urbane Chinese scholars lived at such proximity to nature that the universality of change - in the seasons, in growth and decay and, of course, in the affairs of the court - could not be ignored.