Derek Jarman wrote a series of autobiographical texts, scripts and journals, in which he again and again revisited his past and continually reinvented the forms of self-writing. The sequence includes Dancing Ledge (1984), The Last of England (1987) (republished as Kicking the Pricks (1996)), Modern Nature (1991), At Your Own Risk (1992), Smiling in Slow Motion (2000), Blue (1993), and Chroma (1994).
This volume was published posthumously in 1994. It is a meditation on colour, written as Jarman's sight was deteriorating late in his life. It is a fascinating, quirky compilation, made up of quotations from many, many sources, from Aristotle and Alberti to Wittgenstein and Ezra Pound. It also includes reminiscences, dreams and reflections. The whole is organised into a series of chapters, each on a different colour. The chapter on the colour blue...
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Citation: Mepham, John. "Chroma: A Book of Colour, June 93". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 21 March 2002 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=6023, accessed 09 June 2026.]
