Biographical
I’m Angus. Mostly About Stories is where I write about things I have read or thought. I am a graduate of Cambridge University, where I studied Russian and German.
Of these I know Russian best. I have lived in Saint Petersburg and Moscow and travelled widely around the former Soviet Union. I worked in Russia for a Western company until the beginning of March, 2022.
After I left Russia for the final time (for now), I did a Master’s at a business school in London. I also ran a small charitable initiative with my girlfriend and a few other volunteers to help Ukrainian refugees with their English, which gave me a little Ukrainian.
At the moment, I live in Germany and work in the energy sector, which has occasionally prompted blog posts too.
I am twenty-six years old.
It is my intention to be a the best writer of fiction I can be. This has influenced many of the decisions I have taken through my life, including the creation of this blog. My corporate career is directed towards exposing myself to people and parts of the world that writers starving in garrets or strutting about on campuses might otherwise miss.
There’s also the thought that in having a “proper” career and participating properly in the world I might be able to shape myself into a well-rounded person and do a bit of good, or more than I might be able to otherwise, anyway.
Blog
I read a lot and this blog is a record of some of the things I’ve read, though not all of them, and not necessarily the best of them. I read both to learn how to write and how to live.
On this site there are book reviews and thoughts, my own translations, analyses of literary works and fumblings around more philosophical ones, some essays of my own, and even a little travel writing. I hope you find this blog is for you.
Some authors I like and have written about here: Leo Tolstoy, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Nikolai Gogol, Marilynne Robinson, John Williams, Joseph Conrad, Theodor Fontane, Hugo von Hofmannsthal.
My favourite thinkers are Simone Weil, Friedrich Nietzsche, Ludwig Wittgenstein and Arthur Schopenhauer.
My reading preferences and practices reflect a traditional, very privileged and conservative upbringing in my homeland.
Still, I am here to learn and grow while I can. Any recommendation that takes me beyond my comfort zone and teaches me something will be greatly appreciated. Write to me below or leave a comment!
Update Schedule and Contact Details
Now that I am busy with full-time work I cannot promise a regular update schedule, but will aim at posting once or twice a month, ideally on Mondays.
You can get in touch with me via this page. Criticism and advice are very welcome. I cannot read what you have written unless you are already dead, however. Sorry!
War note
While war and violence often make for great literature, in case it is not immediately obvious to readers I wish to note explicitly here that I condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in the strongest possible terms, and its actions in 2014 too.
Having lived in Russia and read enough books in my life, however, I have enough spirit and care within me to find every single loss of life caused by this contemptable war worthy to be mourned and regretted.