#dear illusion

[ferrarer17]

This is an amazing album. Having read her story about coming to terms with her sexuality and a heartbreak it makes listening to it all the more meaningful. If you haven’t had a listen yet, I highly recommend it. A very beautiful voice singing very heartfelt songs. It’s wonderfully fitting that they chose one of her songs for a certain scene.

[americanagirl]

[xbluemorphox]

Wynonna Earp, S4, ep 02, Wayhaught Scene Song! You’re welcome 💖😭

[thatwhichdefinesus-blog]

Dear Illusion - Kingsley Amis

My edition is brand new, three pounds from the bookstore in town, a whim, and the spine still flexes uncomfortably as I leaf through the pages. There is a mere fifty-nine altogether, and only an hour has been taken from my somewhat irregular Sunday evening routine, yet the message ingrained in this short work of fiction is immeasurable. Dear Illusion, by Kingsley Amis. I don't expect you to have heard of it, and, to be honest, I hadn't either, until I picked it up. Yet I was intrigued, and the journey this minute fiction took me on was largely unexpected but greately rewarding. It tells the story of Sue Macnamara, 'a long-legged girl of thirty' and a budding journalist and poetry critic. She meets Edward, or 'Ted', Potter, an old man withered by a lifetime, yet most prominantly, a well respected poet, due to release his final set of poems. Sue is uncertain and unwilling to go by the words of her peers, knowing them to blow the wrong people full of hot air, and doubts Ted is anything truly special. But as she gets to know this old man, slowly weaving between the barriers he has built, she's introduced to a new perspective, and realises Ted is merely a wounded and self conscious artist, not the sensation he's portrayed by the press to be. For me, Dear Illusion was most striking because the idea of a faulty press system is almost taboo, and Amis, through the character of Ted, in this very short and very wry piece, addresses the idea of 'functioning as a human' through writing and wanting to belong. Potter questions whether his poems were ever any good in the first place, despite such a warm reception, prompted by Sue's disapproving eye over his works. And this concept too, can be applied to even your own life. Ideally, everyone who has ever made something, anyone who has ever wanted to impress someone, seeks truthful critique and honesty. The most determined will want to know where they stand, how to improve if it really is bad. Yet, for Potter, and presumably Amis too, what they recieved hasn't been honest, and for Potter, deep down he knew that all along. Its uncomfortable to witness Potter admit that he agrees with Sue, to see him clear the guise. It is then that the title, Dear Illusion, becomes more significant. Amis' writing style is recognisable from the word go. The writing itself is beautiful, a spectacular achievement. The dialogue is heavy and the speech frank, yet it's balanced so perfectly with the understated descriptions in a way that seems so obvious yet so delicately unique at the same time. He doesn't impress over elaborate settings upon the reader, nor use eccentric and artistic references. This story is about being human and discovering yourself, your talents, and is something no other story has been as quite as succesful as this one. I advise you read this short story, this small insight into a point of view you might never see again. Your eyes will feel wider and maybe even your mind a little more inspired. You'll feel the cogs whirring in your brain, yet it still leaves an achingly sad part of your heart reaching out to this old poet, Ted. After all, who are we really to trust, if we can't trust those who critique?