Charles Davis's Writings
View Charles’s Books | Read Charles’s other writings below.
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Article
Dec.09.2012
The freer we are, the more we look at ourselves.
The more we look at ourselves, the more narcissistic we become.
The more narcissistic we become, the more isolated we are.
The logical consequence of liberty is solitary confinement.
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Article
Dec.01.2012
In my twenties, I loved humanity, but had considerable reservations about people. In my forties, I found that I had considerable sympathy with most people I met, but major misgivings about humanity. It will be interesting to see what happens in my sixties. Will I embrace both individuals and the species, or will I decline into comprehensive misanthropy?
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Article
Sep.16.2012
(Taken from N'espérez pas vous débarrasser des livres by Jean-Claude Carrière & Umberto Eco)
Questioned about the building of the Aswan dam, the philosopher Michel Serres expressed astonishment that the project commission included engineers, architects, hydrologists and ecologists, but no philosopher and no Egyptologist. Astonished by Serres' astonishment,...
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Article
Jul.03.2012
Perhaps the most accomplished of Bill Albert’s novels, Incident At Mirage Wells is a terrific read, marrying big themes with great characters, a compelling plot, and some superb nature writing. Breaking off midway through his bravura depiction of a desert storm, I was a little surprised to go outside and discover a mild Breton winter rather than a blast of...
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Article
Jun.20.2012
If the stuff we sell and are so happy to trade across borders is 'goods', does this mean that all the poor people clamouring at the gates are 'bads'?
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Article
Apr.24.2012
I never studied Latin, but I have spent a lot of time browsing through etymological dictionaries, in consequence of which I recently discovered ‘otium’, an abstract term meaning leisure time during which one withdraws from the hurly-burly of public life in order to reflect, contemplate, take pleasure, and indulge in philosophic and artistic activity. Off the cuff...
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Article
Apr.07.2012
We live in a world that rewards plausible, self-promoting, manipulative men who have a pathological lust for power and who are capable of manipulating the truth into more pleasing shapes if not eviscerating it altogether. Is it any wonder that the political classes are packed with snake oil salesmen?
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Article
Jan.02.2012
This novel is many things, most of them good.
Tracing the misadventures of a young ‘gringo’ caught up in the murderous politics of Peruvian land reform in the early 1970s, it is a notable addition to the genre of hapless traveller abroad. It’s also a masterclass in shifting a plot along with deft economy, a precise and credible evocation of somewhere...
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Article
Sep.27.2011
Childhood is a malady in the course of which one suffers a variety of symptoms ranging from refusing food to behaving in a generally irrational and immature way. Feelings of frustration and issues concerning anger management are commonplace, as well as occasional outbursts of violence. Unrealistic expectations of gratification and emotional fulfilment occur in...
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Jul.26.2011
“I were going along the road one night an’ I seed a feller coming along towards me, and I thought it were ‘ee and ‘ee thought it were I. And we got a little closer an’ I knowed it were ‘ee and ‘ee knowed it were I. An’ we got a little nearer, an’ I were sure it were ‘ee an’ ‘ee were sure it were I. An’ us got a little closer still, and I were darned positive it...
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About Charles
Charles Davis was born and educated, and has travelled and worked. He now lives and writes. That has always seemed to me to be enough biography for any writer, but being an avid reader, too, I appreciate that curiosity demands a bit more, so . . . .
Basically...
Connections
Causes Charles Davis Supports
Oxfam, Amnesty International, Greenpeace