“You seem different.” The boy looks amused as I wave from the drive. I’ve been waiting, impatient to see him, on the steps outside the front door.“Do I?” I do a jazzy walk towards him to make him laugh.“Yeah. You grown some?” He jokily pats me on the head.“Yeah, haven’t you?” I mirror his gesture.“IContinue reading “Chapter 10: I’ll Be Home for Christmas”
Author Archives: My World of Interiors
The Human Condition According to Joseph Conrad
By Bergotte Joseph Conrad wrote about the darkness at the centre of things — not as a metaphor, not as a philosophical proposition to be argued and defended, but as a lived reality that his own extraordinary life had given him direct and repeated access to. He was a Polish nobleman who became a BritishContinue reading “The Human Condition According to Joseph Conrad”
Ripley Part I: The Two Talented Mr. Ripleys: Page, Screen, and the Art of Ambiguity
Patricia Highsmith’s The Talented Mr. Ripley is one of the most enduring crime novels of the twentieth century. Published in 1955, it introduced Tom Ripley, a young conman who insinuates himself into the lives of the wealthy and, through a combination of charm and violence, takes their place. The book was a revelation: not aContinue reading “Ripley Part I: The Two Talented Mr. Ripleys: Page, Screen, and the Art of Ambiguity”
Chapter 9: A Bite of the Big Apple
I go to New York with Tilly on leave weekends, and write to the boy whenever I remember, usually in the mornings after I’ve dreamt about him at night, or when I see something that would make him laugh. When I do, I send him presents: records, magazines, books. Lovesick Blues by Hank Williams. IContinue reading “Chapter 9: A Bite of the Big Apple”
Werner Herzog: The Poet of the Obsessive
Werner Herzog walks through cinema like an adventurer through uncharted territory. Born in 1942 in Bavaria and raised in a remote village without electricity, he grew up with little sense that cinema even existed. When he first encountered film as a teenager, it struck him like lightning. By nineteen he had “borrowed” a camera fromContinue reading “Werner Herzog: The Poet of the Obsessive”
Chapter 8: I Miss You
It’s easy to make friends at Miss Porter’s School for Girls. Most of the young ladies here are good eggs. My new best friend is Matilda, she insists everyone call her Tilly. She’s from New York City and knows all about the world. She’s the most confident fourteen-year-old I’ve ever met, and she looks, justContinue reading “Chapter 8: I Miss You”
Our Girl Marilyn at 100
By Bergotte Published June 1, 2026 — on the occasion of her hundredth birthday Marilyn Monroe was born one hundred years ago today, and she has never stopped being alive. Not alive in the way that the famous dead are alive — as a cultural reference, as a poster on a wall, as a costumeContinue reading “Our Girl Marilyn at 100”
Raphael: The Harmony of the Renaissance
When Raphael died suddenly in 1520 at the age of just 37, Rome fell into mourning. His funeral at the Pantheon drew crowds of artists, courtiers, and clergy, all stunned by the loss of a painter whose genius had seemed inexhaustible. According to Vasari, Raphael’s death left “the art of painting bereft of light.” EvenContinue reading “Raphael: The Harmony of the Renaissance”
Chapter 7: It’s My Party
The weekend before I leave, I have a send-off party.Everyone is having the time of their lives. Mabel and Bingham. The country club kids. My friends from school.Miss Mary invites the boy’s family too, and they show up in full force, parents, his grandmother, who’s always around and lives with them most of the time,Continue reading “Chapter 7: It’s My Party “
Buster Keaton: The Silent Stone Face
In the pantheon of cinema’s pioneers, Buster Keaton occupies a place both singular and paradoxical. He was called “The Great Stone Face,” a comic genius who rarely smiled on screen. His films, made in the silent era of the 1920s, were symphonies of precision: breathtaking stunts, elaborate set pieces, narratives that balanced absurdity with inevitability.Continue reading “Buster Keaton: The Silent Stone Face”
My World of Interiors 