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Stefan’s Year In Books

Stefan’s 2025 Year in Books

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Stefan Szczelkun

Goodreads Author

Born

in London, The United Kingdom

Website

https://openlibrary.org/authors/OL3811005A/Stef...

Twitter

szczels

Genre

Art, Contemporary, Philosophy

Influences

Deborah Levy, Jurgen Habermas, Marcel Proust,

Member Since

July 2009

URL

https://www.goodreads.com/szczels

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Last three books:

'Can Working Class Culture be Knowledge' 2024 ISBN 9781870736558

'Dementia Painting' April 2023.

'Exploding Cinema 1991 - 1999: culture and democracy' was published in 2021 - a short version of my PhD dissertation at RCA.

'SiLENCE! the great silencing of British working class culture' plus related photoboooks on UK Plotlands and other stuff. See Openlibrary link for full list of books.

Most of my books are available as ebooks or PDFs. If you contact me I will send you a review copy.

Whilst having my year out from my architecture course in 1969 I came across The Scratch Orchestra and although not a musician I joined with glee and experienced the power of collective improvisation. This did result in a publication, but much later. Last three books:

'Can Working Class Culture be Knowledge' 2024 ISBN 9781870736558

'Dementia Painting' April 2023.

'Exploding Cinema 1991 - 1999: culture and democracy' was published in 2021 - a short version of my PhD dissertation at RCA.

'SiLENCE! the great silencing of British working class culture' plus related photoboooks on UK Plotlands and other stuff. See Openlibrary link for full list of books.

Most of my books are available as ebooks or PDFs. If you contact me I will send you a review copy.

Whilst having my year out from my architecture course in 1969 I came across The Scratch Orchestra and although not a musician I joined with glee and experienced the power of collective improvisation. This did result in a publication, but much later. By 1971 I was back at college in Portsmouth attempting to finish my course whilst living in a van. Architecture did not seem to be located in human needs… So I decided to take John Cages’ advice and ‘start from scratch’. Before architecture came shelter so I started collecting stuff on basic forms of shelter making. That turned into collecting scrapbooks of material on our basic life supports - shelter, food and energy. It was a revelation to me because I was finding my own categories and structuring knowledge for myself rather than following existing classifications.

I had the good luck to take my collection into Unicorn Bookshop in Brighton at an opportune time. The poet proprietor of Unicorn, Bill Butler, could see the potential for a British version of The Whole Earth Catalogue. The first completely hand-drawn ‘Survival Scrapbook 1 Shelter’ came out early in 1972. ‘Survival Scrapbook 2 Food’ came out later that year and ‘Energy’ in 1974. They sold well and the rights were sold to Schocken in NY. I was sent on a 37 radio and TV talk show tour of America and they sold by the thousand.

The next thing I got into was a concept of ’Total Ability’ where the idea of ‘going back to first principles’, which my school physics teacher used to bang on about, was applied to human functioning. It started when I came across a page-long description of standing in a classic book on Yoga. What if I collected things like that on all our human abilities… creating a sort of self-knowledge through doing. Anyway that project was bought by a big publisher called Wildwood House. But then they went bust and as the Seventies progressed the bottom fell out of the hippie alternative market as things got less visionary. So ‘Sense -Think - Act’ got put on the shelf until Gordon Joly turned up and offered to publish it as a Wiki on his own backyard server. From there it was finally made into a self-published paperback book.

But to return back to the Eighties… By then I felt a need to explore who I was. And I still hankered after the peer collectivity I’d experienced in the Scratch Orchestra. First of all I decided that I should follow my inner mojo and be an artist rather than a half-hearted professional architect. Help for my confused state of being came in the form of a class conscious form of co-counselling. Through this I came to realise I was still as working class as my family, in spite of my pretensions to be an author and artist! I joined a newly formed Brixton Artists Collective with other working class artists and started running radical and inclusive exhibitions in three railway arches. It was a breath of fresh air compared with the stuffy art world.

The next thing was I realised was that I was still Polish. In spite of losing the language and being second generation I was still an immigrant with attitude. Two practical actions came out of this almost simultaneously.

The first was meeting a Polish artist in Lincolnshire, through the mail art network, (Leszek Dabrowski) and realising I could do with being part of a Polish artists group. Then I met Kasia Januszko living in my squatted street in Kennington and with her help the project took practical shape. The group, cal ...more

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Stefan Szczelkun’s books

Average rating: 4.58 · 38 ratings · 27 reviews · 24 distinct works

	Dementia Painting by Stefan Szczelkun (Goodreads Author), Joan Colnbrook (Illustrator) it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 7 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	SILENCE! The Great Silencing of British Working Class Culture 4.57 avg rating — 7 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Conspiracy of Good Taste: William Morris, Cecil Sharp, Clough Williams-Ellis and the repression of working class culture in the 20th century 4.50 avg rating — 4 ratings — published 1993 — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Improvisation Rites: from John Cage's 'Song Books' to the Scratch Orchestra's 'Nature Study Notes'. Collective practices 2011 - 2017 it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 3 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Plotlands of Shepperton: Photographs 2004 - 2016 it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 3 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Chalet Fields of the Gower by Stefan Szczelkun (Goodreads Author), Short Owen 4.33 avg rating — 3 ratings — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Survival Scrapbook #1: Shelter 4.50 avg rating — 2 ratings — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Sense Think Act 4.50 avg rating — 2 ratings — 5 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Collaborations really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 2 ratings — published 1987 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Class Myths and Culture really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 2 ratings — published 1990	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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Stefan is Currently Reading

Stefan Szczelkun is currently reading

Going Out – Walking, Listening, Soundmaking

by Elena Biserna ed.

bookshelves: currently-reading

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Oct 17, 2023 04:27AM

Stefan Szczelkun is currently reading

Hidden Culture, Forgotten History

by Bruce H. Wilkinson

bookshelves: currently-reading

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Stefan Szczelkun said: " THE WRONG AUTHOR IS LISTED FOR THIS BOOK "

May 04, 2023 12:30AM · see review

Stefan Szczelkun is currently reading

Revisionist Historiography

by M.J. Harper (Goodreads Author)

bookshelves: currently-reading, working-class-writer, history

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Mar 26, 2023 02:38AM

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Stefan’s Recent Updates

Stefan Szczelkun and 1 other person liked Owen Hatherley's review of Finding Ella Briggs: The Life and Work of an Unconventional Architect: "Fills in a lot of gaps in the life of an interesting but under-published architect, with an interesting, sometimes non-linear and thematic approach, but also, what an absolutely extraordinary life - from Vienna to New York to Bilston, from Mucha to H" Read more of this review »
22 hours, 50 min ago · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Finding Ella Briggs by Despina Stratigakos. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Finding Ella Briggs by Despina Stratigakos <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Stefan Szczelkun wants to read Bede's Life of Saint Cuthbert by Bede	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Jan 18, 2026 12:40PM · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Bede's Life of Saint Cuthbert by Bede. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Bede's Life of Saint Cuthbert by Bede <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Stefan Szczelkun wants to read Ecclesiastical History of the English People by Bede	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
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Stefan Szczelkun wants to read The Age of Bede (Penguin Classics) by Bede	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Jan 18, 2026 12:34PM · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of The Age of Bede by Bede. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — The Age of Bede by Bede <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Stefan Szczelkun and 2 other people liked MJ Nicholls's review of Children, Gender, Video Games: Towards a Relational Approach to Multimedia: "A poindextrous little number where Welsh and Australian kids are forced to video game while clipboard freaks relate their behaviour to Deleuze, Lacan, Butler and Derrida theories. The author freak is Valerie Walkerdine, academic and installation arti" Read more of this review »
Jan 16, 2026 01:45AM · see review
Stefan Szczelkun rated a book really liked it Children, Gender, Video Games: Towards a Relational Approach to Multimedia by Valerie Walkerdine	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
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Stefan Szczelkun wants to read Gender, Work and Community After De-Industrialisation: A Psychosocial Approach to Affect (Identity Studies in the Social Sciences) by Valerie Walkerdine (17-Jan-2012) Hardcover by Unknown Author	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Jan 16, 2026 01:36AM · like
Stefan Szczelkun rated a book liked it Growing Up Girl: Psycho-Social Explorations of Gender and Class by Valerie Walkerdine	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Jan 16, 2026 01:36AM · like
Stefan Szczelkun liked Stef Rozitis's review of Growing Up Girl: Psycho-Social Explorations of Gender and Class: "So this is about girls born in 1974 (ie me). This is pretty old and in some ways you could argue it's out of date. But I found the issues it points to are still largely unresolved. So as a historical piece and as a provocation for today I still found" Read more of this review »
Jan 16, 2026 01:35AM · see review
Stefan Szczelkun liked Paul's review of Poor Artists: A Quest Into the Art World: "A fictional account of the real life struggles of trying to be an artist in contemporary Britain. Funny, and frustrating, sad and enlightening, and a cleverly constructed book. "
Jan 14, 2026 11:51AM · see review

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Quotes by Stefan Szczelkun (?)

“Real life is pockmarked and frail and deeply satisfying. The media image of life is sanitised and glossy and dissappointing.”
― Stefan Szczelkun, Class Myths and Culture

1 likes

“The radical implication of the expansion of higher education has been disguised by a myth which dubs all educated working class people as middle class. By definition working class people are not intelligent, so if you've got a degree you must be middle class. This nonsense is reinforced by the fact that acedemic traditions are laden with class assumptions and are presented in upper class styles even in the Polytechnics.”
― Stefan Szczelkun, Class Myths and Culture

tags: class, education, oppression, perception, prejudice

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“It is a supremacist assumption that one culture can be compared as better or worse than another.”
― Stefan Szczelkun, Class Myths and Culture

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Stefan’s Quotes

“In a word, a concert hall is a place where middle-class white people can feel safe together.”
― Christopher Small, Musicking: The Meanings of Performing and Listening

2 likes

“The reverence accorded to the composer’s score suggests that it is a sacred object, which is not to be tampered with, whose authority over the actions of all the musicians playing here tonight is absolute, which commands absolute stillness and silence from those devotees who have assembled to hear it performed.”
― Christopher Small, Musicking: The Meanings of Performing and Listening

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“The corps of Great Composers who provided the works that are played here are all dead; living musicians may have their works played here from time to time, as a kind of courtesy, but it is the dead who command the loyalty of audiences, and it is their works that are played here over and over again with loving note-for-note accuracy.”
― Christopher Small, Musicking: The Meanings of Performing and Listening

2 likes

“The first act of violence that patriarchy demands of males is not violence toward women. Instead patriarchy demands of all males that they engage in acts of psychic self-mutilation, that they kill off the emotional parts of themselves. If an individual is not successful in emotionally crippling himself, he can count on patriarchal men to enact rituals of power that will assault his self-esteem.”
― bell hooks

195 likes

“Head in the book. Nose sliding down the valley between the pages.”
― Roddy Doyle, A Star Called Henry

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