Came across this passage in Stuart Hall's memoir, Familiar Stranger: A Life Between Two Islands:

'the dislocations, the strangeness within the self [I experienced on coming face-to-face with England] undermined my desire to write creatively. I couldn't do it from within the culture I found myself inhabiting, from within its imaginary geography. Instead I observed everything... This strengthened my critical as against my creative instincts, a shift which is difficult to undo.'

Explains a lot about why some people are creative writers and others critical theorists. And also why the English novel is like it is - it is too often written from within the culture and its imaginary geography.

#novel #criticaltheory #england #creative #culturalstudies #memoir