This is the author's only literary 'sextet', a six-book philosophy project entitled THE FATHER OMEGA SEXTET, the individual books of which are 'Father Omega's Last Testament', 'Revaluations and Transvaluations', 'The Classless Solution', 'The Dialectics of Synthetic Attraction', 'The Dialectics of Civilization', and 'The Dialectics of Gender and Class'. In fact, dialectics is arguably the principal subject under consideration here, albeit of a different and more complex order to anything Marxist and merely materialist. All in all, this monumental project stands very close to, if not actually at, the apex of an oeuvre which has chronologically spiralled towards a metaphysical summit through Social Theocracy and the ideological philosophy of Social Transcendentalism.
This quartet of books of aphoristic philosophy with a Social Theocratic dimension is comprised of 'Yang and Anti-Yin', 'Lamb and Anti-Lion', 'Celestial City and Anti-Vanity Fair' and, last but by no means least, 'Jesus - A Summing Up!', the title of which is a kind of oblique tribute to Arthur Koestler's estimable 'Janus - A Summing Up', which, however, would not have much bearing on the aforementioned works in terms of thematic structure, as germane, by and large, to the noumenal distinction between metaphysics and antimetachemistry, as explained in the texts.
The four e-books in this quartet are 'The Free Testament (Of a Bound Genius)', 'Revelationary Afterthoughts', 'Revolutionary Afterthoughts', and 'Judgemental Afterthoughts (Of a Free Genius)', all of which take the author's ideological philosophy closer to completion in what is a kind of ultimate testament to Social Theocratic truth.
These two 'posthumous' publications to John O'Loughlin's oeuvre-proper were culled, like the material of 'Opus Postscriptum', from two of his blogsites and contain material of an essayistic and aphoristic nature which has been extensively revised and reformatted to suit the parameters of e-book publication. There is a sense, though only a loose one, in which the first book corresponds to physics and the second, the so-called 'Theosophical Illuminations', to metaphysics; though that is more in the form than in the substance, since both books are equally radical and thoroughgoing in their approach to metaphysics and kindred subjects.
By the New York Times bestselling author of The Bone Clocks and Cloud Atlas | Longlisted for the Man Booker Prize Selected by Time as One of the Ten Best Books of the Year | A New York Times Notable Book | Named One of the Best Books of the Year by The Washington Post Book World, The Christian Science Monitor, Rocky Mountain News, and Kirkus Reviews | A Los Angeles Times Book Prize Finalist | Winner of the ALA Alex Award | Finalist for the Costa Novel Award From award-winning writer David Mitchell comes a sinewy, meditative novel of boyhood on the cusp of adulthood and the old on the cusp of the new. Black Swan Green tracks a single year in what is, for thirteen-year-old Jason Taylor, the sleepiest village in muddiest Worcestershire in a dying Cold War England, 1982. But the thirteen chapters, each a short story in its own right, create an exquisitely observed world that is anything but sleepy. A world of Kissingeresque realpolitik enacted in boys’ games on a frozen lake; of “nightcreeping” through the summer backyards of strangers; of the tabloid-fueled thrills of the Falklands War and its human toll; of the cruel, luscious Dawn Madden and her power-hungry boyfriend, Ross Wilcox; of a certain Madame Eva van Outryve de Crommelynck, an elderly bohemian emigré who is both more and less than she appears; of Jason’s search to replace his dead grandfather’s irreplaceable smashed watch before the crime is discovered; of first cigarettes, first kisses, first Duran Duran LPs, and first deaths; of Margaret Thatcher’s recession; of Gypsies camping in the woods and the hysteria they inspire; and, even closer to home, of a slow-motion divorce in four seasons. Pointed, funny, profound, left-field, elegiac, and painted with the stuff of life, Black Swan Green is David Mitchell’s subtlest and most effective achievement to date. Praise for Black Swan Green “[David Mitchell has created] one of the most endearing, smart, and funny young narrators ever to rise up from the pages of a novel. . . . The always fresh and brilliant writing will carry readers back to their own childhoods. . . . This enchanting novel makes us remember exactly what it was like.”—The Boston Globe “[David Mitchell is a] prodigiously daring and imaginative young writer. . . . As in the works of Thomas Pynchon and Herman Melville, one feels the roof of the narrative lifted off and oneself in thrall.”—Time
This is the story of one woman's decision to forfeit a brilliant career for the sake of motherhood. Once a child prodigy, Gitta Gradova traveled the world as an internationally acclaimed concert pianist, performing recitals as well as appearing with prominent orchestras of her era. Her son Thomas J. Cottle uses written records, interviews, and personal reminiscence to reconstruct her life, as well as their own mother-son relationship. He is at times a storyteller, at times a psychologist, at times a son seeking to uncover those aspects of his mother's life he could never know, or perhaps, chose not to know until it was too late.
A Best Photo Book of 2012 by American Photo. A new look at the legendary folklorist and his work. More than fifty years ago, on a trip dubbed “the Southern Journey,” Alan Lomax visited Virginia, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Kentucky, and Tennessee, uncovering the little-known southern backcountry and blues music that we now consider uniquely American. Lomax’s camera was a constant companion, and his images of both legendary and anonymous folk musicians complement his famous field recordings. These photographs—largely unpublished—show musicians making music with family and friends at home, with fellow worshippers at church, and alongside workers and prisoners in the fields. Discussions of Lomax’s life and career by his disciple and lauded folklorist William Ferris, and a lyrical look at Lomax’s photographs by novelist and Grammy Award-winning music writer Tom Piazza, enrich this valuable collection.
