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).
At Your Own Risk: A Saint's Testament (1992) continues Jarman's series of collage autobiographies. Although there is a rough chronological shape to the book, the emphasis is more on presenting and consolidating a particular identity than on telling a coherent tale. The sub-title refers to the fact that Jarman was, in a cod ceremony on the Ness, awarded a Sainthood; the title of “St Derek of Dungeness of the Order of Celluloid...
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Citation: Mepham, John. "At Your Own Risk". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 21 March 2002 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=6479, accessed 05 December 2025.]
