It’s a pity he’s so reliant on the visual medium and coat-holding for others.
Re. his attempt at metaphor, two points…
1. A good metaphor carries an image of something ordinary, yet its impact is extra-ordinary because of its similarity to something more abstract. But, ‘shotgun waffle’? What’s that? And, a labyrinth is a maze, yet the post is a straight road. A 5 year old could follow it, yet Punton’s ghost evidently struggles – I blame all those videos. Oh, a ‘labyrinth of waffle’ is pretty much tautology, no?
2. It’s probably plagiarised. He has form for that.
So, it’s hardly the authorly equivalent of a ship in a bottle – JI’s lit crit seems to be on a par with religion.
