When I began my philosophy course I was very enthusiastic about academic philosophy but as time progressed my patience with it wore thin. By the end of my course I was reading English translations of Russian classics by Gogol, Dostoyevsky and Turgenev. I have not read much Russian literature, by the way, because finishing Crime and Punishment persuaded me I should begin writing myself. I was prompted to read Crime and Punishment because I'd read Lukacs' Theory of the novel and Camus' Rebel. Coming to grips with nihilism seemed like the way to go.
My reading habits had already this taken that direction. I'd read about Nazism in detail in the past. I'd read Solzhenitsyn's Gulag Archipelago, Nietzsche, Adorno and Horkheimer, and Foucault. In fiction I'd read Burgesses Clockwork Orange and Orwell's 1984.
I was simply tired of philosophy and so bought a lot of diverse writing together under the umbrella of a study of nihilism. The resulting essay is written in its own style, it's heavy on quotes, this lets the books I studied "speak for themselves". I hope this style will make the thoughts accessible to those who may not have read the source literature as well as those who have.
If you read the essay you will see how becoming a writer was the logical next step. What else to do when philosophy seemed inadequate and I had looked nihilism right in the face?
The theme of confronting nihilism is continued in any number of poems here, whether it be humorous, as in Hell's Saint, or more somber, as in Debt Collector and Guttersnipes and Parasites.
derelicts and Chellovecks is one of the strangest pieces I have yet written. I doubt it's at all accessible unless you know Anthony Burgesses Clockwork Orange or Kubrik's film version. It's a bastardised piece anyway, it doesn't feel finished, what remains accessible to all English readers is partly what's wrong with it. The English does not fit. Why did I make it rhyme?
The problems with derelicts and Chellovecks in mind, I have since written a similar prose piece, in plain English: layman's philosophy: ruts, industrial temping, unemployment and Kafka's castle. This is the first in what will become a series of pieces of layman's philosophy. The second in the series discusses Nietzsche's eternal recurrence.
I guess derelicts and Chellovecks, which deals with nihilism as a response to capitalism, is the most extreme piece of English beat poetry, a genre I dream of developing. Other pieces on the site can be said to be part of this genre: Alexander The Large In Wonderland and The Cheshire Cat Mage in Escher's Structure deal with the psychology of dreaming in a way that alludes to Lewis Caroll's Alice in Wonderland.
Fear and Loathing is also in this poetic-prose style. Fear and loathing, Philosophy of life as narrative: Nietzsche, Eternal Recurrence, The Heaviest Burden and The Last Trial of Father Smith deal with the theme of how we create our own arbitrary demons, though Smith's Trial is somewhat humorous and surreal in this respect.
I have recently begun adding more explicitly existentialist poetry, poetry that deals with the spike of our existence and raw human emotion, for instance Napoleon: eternal outsider which portrays an anonymous failed dictator. There's also the bitterly ironic poem, Hitler Pet, which runs along a similar sort of theme and tries to ridicule Hitler in poetry.
There is also a consideration of the nature of ghosts in Gavin Grey and I; this isn't my theory on the subject exactly: it's just a possible explanation of ghosts.
It's fairly trite but this piece discusses the overman in Nietzsche's Zarathustra's Prologue and Kafka's First Sorrow, it asks if Kafka may have read any Nietzsche. Again it's not a hard theory, it's just a question I found interesting.
Finally there's the site itself, I've tried to make it accessible to users with disabilities, particularly with access keys (which MSIE6 doesn't support). I'd greatly appreciate feedback on this. The site uses few images and no tables for layout. What's the status of the site? Do I think my opinions and writing have value? Some of the time the answer is yes. There is also the work of friends here. I'd like to add more work of others, want to build something special?
As well as intending to add more "layman's philosophy", I also hope to progress with academic philosophy, studying the individualist thinkers, especially Max Stirner and, probably, H.L. Mencken. I also intend to look at the literature of madness, Foucault and Camus - whenever I can find the time.
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