Research
My first novel, Cargo Fever drew upon research undertaken at Pattimura University, Ambon, and for my second novel, The Martyrdom of Ivan Gelski, I was awarded an Arts Council research grant to travel to Bulgaria. It is not that I see research as important in the writing of fiction, but rather that I see the writing of fiction as a kind of research – as a way of exploring the world. For my next novel, I am plunging into Chinese history, and I am in the early stages of learning Chinese. This is a long-term project, but one that I’m currently finding enormously enriching.
Beyond the realms of fiction, I have research interests in philosophy. My first philosophy book, Finding Our Sea Legs explores how stories may provide a form of phenomenology – giving us a sense of the “what is it like?” of experience – that may be helpful in thinking through ethics. This book draws on my PhD research into the work of Emmanuel Levinas and into traditions of storytelling. I am currently following up several leads to do with philosophy as a form of practice – philosophy, in the words of Pierre Hadot, “as a way of life”. This brings together both my interests in the Western philosophical tradition and my engagement with Buddhist practice. I am not, I should add, “a Buddhist”, although I tend to consider myself as more or less (depending upon various factors, such as who I am talking to, the phase of the moon, and what I have just had for lunch) Buddhish.
I am also working on a consultancy basis for Ixia public art thinktank, trying to stimulate new and creative thought about public art.