A prolific essayist, Chris Arthur’s writing is marked invariably by an expansive curiosity, an omnivorous reading life and spooling philosophical enquiries that begin with an attentiveness to the ordinary. His finely wrought essays are what challenged me to think about essaying as an activity outside the schoolroom, beyond those dry-as-dust abstracts and arguments of professionalised, templated writing that sometimes masquerade for life in the Humanities….
Chris Arthur’s latest essay collection is unmistakably about hummingbirds. However, this innocuous fact is far more revealing than one might expect. Arthur’s hummingbirds are varied; sometimes they are avian, but they are also objects, words, creatures and people. To be a hummingbird is to capture the attention of the beholder and in doing so, challenge Read More
(Ed- Prior to publishing excerpts from the 2017 Notting Hill Editions Essay prize shortlist, we asked the marvellous essayist Chris Arthur to write a piece on the essay within the academy… Read & let us know what you think by leaving your comments below.) Students don’t believe me when I say they’ve never written an Read More
