Nigel Pearce

DescriptionIn my craft or sullen artExercised in the still nightWhen only the moon ragesAnd the lovers lie abedWith all their griefs in their arms, I labour by singing lightNot for ambition or breadOr the strut and trade of charmsOn the ivory stagesBut for the common wagesOf their most secret heart.In My Craft or Sullen Art extract]. by Dylan Thomas.Nigel read these lines at age eleven and they became almost a mantra which would remain with him throughout his life. Sometimes the night was very dark, but he came through. This is a book about literature and ideas concerning literature. Nigel's life was careering out of control until 1988 when he began serious academic study with the Open University. It began when he was a patient in one of those rambling asylums and has continued since. He has gained two Bachelors of Art 2/1 and two Master's Degrees with Merit. He awaits the result of a third Master's Degree. Also being published by Chipmunkapublishing has made the journey meaningful.

'The darker the night, the brighter the stars.'- Dostoevsky. Nigel was born in the autumn, of 1959. His life has been 'colourful' or 'chequered' depending on whom you ask. His GP of some decades has said 'writing and studying are your therapy, Nigel. They are what saved you.' He left home for the counterculture as a child and was subsequently placed in the 'Care' of the County Council but was soon transferred to the psychiatric system where he has been since in one manifestation or another. However, in 1988 he began studying at the Open University where his first undergraduate degree was in Political and Social Science, he received a 2:1 and his biological parents attended the graduation, his father saying: 'This is the greatest day of my life.' However, he would then experience a close call after a toxic state caused by prescribed medication. This set him on another path academically, although he had written creatively from a very early age. Consequently, he gained a BA in Humanities with Creative Writing 2:1. Then a Master of Arts in English with Merit, and a Master of Arts in Creative Writing with Merit last academic year. He will begin a brand-new Master of Arts in English Literature in September.

'The darker the night, the brighter the stars.'- Dostoevsky. Nigel was born in the autumn, of 1959. His life has been 'colourful' or 'chequered' depending on whom you ask. His GP of some decades has said 'writing and studying are your therapy, Nigel. They are what saved you.' He left home for the counterculture as a child and was subsequently placed in the 'Care' of the County Council but was soon transferred to the psychiatric system where he has been since in one manifestation or another. However, in 1988 he began studying at the Open University where his first undergraduate degree was in Political and Social Science, he received a 2:1 and his biological parents attended the graduation, his father saying: 'This is the greatest day of my life.' However, he would then experience a close call after a toxic state caused by prescribed medication. This set him on another path academically, although he had written creatively from a very early age. Consequently, he gained a BA in Humanities with Creative Writing 2:1. Then a Master of Arts in English with Merit, and a Master of Arts in Creative Writing with Merit last academic year. He will begin a brand-new Master of Arts in English Literature in September.

I know not of the veracity of the contents of this book because I am but a poet.This book is an attempt to create thematic continuity within a generic division into memoir, prose-fiction, and poetry, as is the tendency with memoirs in the postmodern epoch it is fragmented. Having said that all the material of whatever genre has a material base in 'lived experience', but it is also the work of a creative mind. Therefore, it is for the reader to engage. As Jean-Paul Sartre argued in What is LiteratureThe dialectic is nowhere more apparent than in theart of writing for the literary object is a peculiar topthis exists only in movement. To make it comeinto view a concrete act called reading is necessary, and it lasts only as this act lasts. Beyond that, there are only black marks on the paper.- Sartre (2010) What is Literature, p. 29.Nigel was born in autumn 1959. His life has been 'colourful' or 'chequered' depending on whom you ask. His GP of some decades has said 'writing and studying are your therapy, Nigel. They are what saved you.' He left home for the counterculture as a child and was subsequently placed in the 'Care' of the County Council but was soon transferred to the psychiatric system where he has been since in one manifestation or another. However, in 1988 he began studying at the Open University where his first undergraduate degree was in Political and Social Science, he received a 2:1 and his biological parents attended the graduation, his father saying: 'This is the greatest day of my life.' However, he would then experience a close call after a toxic state caused by prescribed medication. This set him upon another path academically, although he had written creatively from a very early age. Consequently, he gained a BA in Humanities with Creative Writing 2:1. Then a Master of Arts in English with Merit and a Master of Arts in Creative Writing with Merit last academic year.

Author Biography. 'The darker the night, the brighter the stars.'- Dostoevsky. Nigel was born in autumn 1959. His life has been 'colourful' or 'chequered' depending on whom you ask. His GP of some decades has said 'writing and studying are your therapy, Nigel. They are what saved you.' He left home for the counterculture as a child and was subsequently placed in the 'Care' of the County Council but was soon transferred to the psychiatric system where he has been since in one manifestation or another. However, in 1988 he began studying at the Open University where his first undergraduate degree was in Political and Social Science, he received a 2:1 and his biological parents attended the graduation, his father saying: 'This is the greatest day of my life.' However, he would then experience a close call after a toxic state caused by prescribed medication. This set him upon another path academically, although he had written creatively from a very early age. Consequently, he gained a BA in Humanities with Creative Writing 2:1. Then a Master of Arts in English with Merit and a Master of Arts in Creative Writing with Merit last academic year.

'The darker the night, the brighter the stars.'- Dostoevsky. Nigel was born in autumn 1959. His life has been 'colourful' or 'chequered' depending on whom you ask. His GP of some decades has said 'writing and studying are your therapy, Nigel. They are what saved you.' He left home for the counterculture as a child and was subsequently placed in the 'Care' of the County Council but was soon transferred to the psychiatric system where he has been since in one manifestation or another. However, in 1988 he began studying at the Open University where his first undergraduate degree was in Political and Social Science, he received a 2:1 and his biological parents attended the graduation, his father saying: 'This is the greatest day of my life.' However, he would then experience a close call after a toxic state caused by prescribed medication. This set him upon another path academically, although he had written creatively from a very early age. Consequently, he gained a BA in Humanities with Creative Writing 2:1. Then a Master of Arts in English with Merit and a Master of Arts in Creative Writing with Merit last academic year.

Nigel was born in autumn 1959. His life has been 'colourful' or 'chequered' depending on whom you ask. His GP of some decades has said 'writing and studying are your therapy, Nigel. They are what saved you.' He left home for the counterculture as a child and was subsequently placed in the 'Care' of the County Council but was soon transferred to the psychiatric system where he has been since in one manifestation or another. However, in 1988 he begun studying at the Open University where his first undergraduate degree was in Political and Social Science, he received a 2:1 and his biological parents attended the graduation, his father saying: 'This is the greatest day of my life.' However, he would then experience a close call after a toxic state caused by prescribed medication. This set him upon another path academically, although he had written creatively from a very early age. Consequently, he gained a BA in Humanities with Creative Writing 2:1. Then a Masters in English with Merit and is awaiting the final mark of a Master of Arts in Creative Writing.

Nigel was born in autumn 1959. His life has been 'colourful' or 'chequered' depending on whom you ask. His GP of some decades has said 'writing and studying are your therapy, Nigel. They are what saved you.' He left home for the counterculture as a child and was subsequently placed in the 'Care' of the County Council but was soon transferred to the psychiatric system where he has been since in one manifestation or another. However, in 1988 he begun studying at the Open University where his first undergraduate degree was in Political and Social Science, he received a 2:1 and his biological parents attended the graduation, his father saying: 'This is the greatest day of my life.' However, he would then experience a close call after a toxic state caused by prescribed medication. This set him upon another path academically, although he had written creatively from a very early age. Consequently, he gained a BA in Humanities with Creative Writing 2:1. Then a Masters in English with Merit and is awaiting the final mark of a Master of Arts in Creative Writing.

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DescriptionThis new collection from Nigel encompasses his believes and loves. From non-fiction to prose-fiction as well as creative non-fiction and his true love, poetry. It is broad and, in parts, challenging. But he notes that the Situationist International in their first publication in 1958 argued: 'A new form of mental illness has swept the planet: banalisation. Everyone is hypnotized by work and comfort: by the...washing machine. The liberation of man from material cares (has) become a life-destroying obsession.'- Gilles Ivain. 'Internationale Situationist', 1, 1958.Therefore, to paraphrase William Morris, I want literature, freedom, and liberty for not the few but everyone.About the AuthorNigel is now 61 and the beliefs that motivated and sustained a journey which was often darkened by circumstances remain with him to this day. A belief in a society not of a uniform Nietzschean herd or a one where individuals are atomised and alone but rather one in which, to quote Karl Marx: 'In a higher phase of communist society, after the enslaving subordination of the individual to the division of labour, and therewith also the antithesis between mental and physical labour, has vanished; after labour has become not only a means of life but life's prime want; after the productive forces have also increased with the all-around development of the individual, and all the springs of co-operative wealth flow more abundantly-only then can the narrow horizon of bourgeois right be crossed in its entirety and society inscribe on its banners: From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs.'- Marx, Critique of the Gotha Program'.Also, his belief in the unity of art and life, literature and practice remain at the core of his being. He continues to study at the Open University having gained two Bachelors of Arts (Hons) 2:1 and a Master of Art in English with Merit. At present he is halfway through their Masters' Program in Creative Writing. This academic discipline and being published by Chipmunkapublishing helped transform his life.

- Endorsed by the Independent Schools Examinations Board (ISEB)- Over 70 listening tracks with new and revised audio. Available as a digital download- Tailor lessons to the varying levels of your students, with Level 2 grammar clearly signposted, - Builds pupil confidence and mastery in grammar with clear explanations reinforced by plenty of practice exercises and handy grammar reference sections- Prepare students for their assessment with exam-style exercises throughout for listening, reading, writing and speaking- Available as Student and Whiteboard eTextbooks for flexible teaching and learning

- Endorsed by the Independent Schools Examinations Board (ISEB) - Over 70 listening tracks with new and revised audio. Available as a digital download - Tailor lessons to the varying levels of your students, with Level 2 grammar clearly signposted, - Builds pupil confidence and mastery in grammar with clear explanations reinforced by plenty of practice exercises and handy grammar reference sections - Prepare students for their assessment with exam-style exercises throughout for listening, reading, writing and speaking - Available as Student and Whiteboard eTextbooks for flexible teaching and learning

Nigel's life was saved by creative writing and academia. He had been a runaway to the counterculture in London as a young teenager with all the accompanying chaos. He was later taken into County Council Child Care and then transferred to the psychiatric system. His life spiralled out of control until he began to write seriously and study. He has gained a BA in Humanities with Creative Writing and is now half-way through a Masters Degree in English, both at The Open University. He lives with mental health problems. This collection will give you a flavour of that life and those of others.