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ABRAXAS UNBOUND Omega Edition |
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EDITORIAL
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ith
much regret, this will be the last copy of Abraxas Unbound. Owing to
unforeseen circumstances,
I have decided to reduce my workload. I must thank all my
contributors and subscribers. While I never could be quite relied upon to bring
Abraxas out regularly, by contrast they have always been there with their funds,
articles and essays, and I remember the celebrated Australian cultural
entrepreneur, Mr Fogg, once presenting me with a cheque for £100 to help keep
things going. Then there have been faithful subscribers and contributors like
Colin Stanley, Tony Lamb, Maurice Bassett, Antoni Diller, Matthew Coniam, Gary
Lachman, Mark Thomas, Vaughan Robertson, Ruby Tuesday, Adam Daly and Ted Brown.
This
issue kicks off with Colin forcing entry into the sacred groves of Shakespearian
scholarship, expounding a gripping new theory as well as supplying a splendid
article on A.N. Whitehead and on ‘The Happy Turning’ by H.G. Wells. Lionel
Britton’s background and achievement is framed in Tony Shaw’s witty and
enlightening bio-crit; this must indeed stand as the most thorough and
authoritative pioneer essay on this increasingly significant writer who touches
on so many issues that are relevant today. Matthew Coniam slams down his
judge’s gavot on Timothy Evans and laments the human tendency to find
injustice in an honest verdict. The celebrated modern composer, Marcus Blunt,
tells us about his life and work. Anthony Harrison-Barbet explains the genesis
of his monumental study of E.H. Visiak, ably reviewed by yet another
distinguished Lindsay-Visiak scholar, David Power. Mark Valentines ‘Viper in
the Temple’ is a satisfying appraisal of an overlooked writer of great
distinction. Adam Daly compares the talents of Richard Savage and the Earl of
Rochester whose satiric pornography still has the power to shock. Lee Cooper
analyses the ecological traumas, frictions and theatrical joy-rides of Totnes.
Finally an old friend from Ireland, mountaineer, poet and philosopher, Derek
Fanning makes a welcome return with a fine, uplifting article on rock climbing.
In
Epilogic Convergence, there is a somewhat destructive analysis by
Reverend Vaughan Robertson of Colin’s methodology and approach. In particular
he fastens on the use of historic generalisation, the over-dependence on
assertion and dubious factoids and the veracity of the philosophical enterprise.
As Vaughan would readily admit, history does not aspire to the nuts and bolts
exactitude of a car manual because it is attempting to do something
fundamentally impossible. For someone intent on making a philosophical or
psychological point, using cultural history as an anecdotal pool whereby he may
demonstrate certain breakthroughs or junctures of insight is a legitimate
procedure. Hence Vaughan tends to overdo things by haggling and questioning a
veracity that he himself cannot definitively refute. What matters is the extent
to which the reader is inspired by the larger philosophical or psychological
truth he intuits behind the statement. Language is a mirror, a tool of being, an
instiller of possibilities, an enchanter of the imagination.
For
fiction we have a moving and pathetic pastiche of Edgar Allan Poe by a brilliant
young writer, Michael Carver, and a story selected from A.R. Lamb’s superb
collection Mieke’s Ladder, presents us with a complex piece of magical
plotting that is amusing as well as emotionally focused.
Colin Stanley has written for a website a series of essays on Colin’s ‘Outsider Cycle’, one of which is published here (P.93). Each is a model of meticulous compression that Paupers’ Press will issue in book form.
Colin
Wilson is about to
publish his study of Shakespeare on which he presented a lively talk at the
Stratford-on-Avon literary festival.
Oddly
enough, I have just had a small booklet printed about my autobiographical
jottings (Paul Newman: Writer) by Andrew Lanyon, son of Peter Lanyon, the
celebrated abstract painter of the St Ives School. Andrew himself is a
fascinating artist – check out his website – and a writer and film-maker
of brilliance. He is a great punster and has produced a series of hand-made,
highly entertaining Anti-Art books. Of
living artists, few have delved so profoundly into the philosophy of creativity.
By dint of a charming combination of assertiveness and modesty, he is able to
mock his own strivings in a manner so entertaining the whole enterprise is
elevated into something astonishing. Hence Anti-Art: Art that celebrates its
futility by igniting laughter at itself – in other words, by effectively
communicating. Such is Andrew’s visual dexterity the end result is often
extraordinarily witty, such as the St Ives seascape that is actually a sparkling
ocean constructed from artists’ palettes.
Roger
Morris, who contributed a short story to the previous Abraxas Unbound,
has produced a superb whodunnit A Gentle Axe that resuscitates Inspector
Porfiry Petrovich from Crime and Punishment, challenging his wits to find
the perpetrator of an even more horrific atrocity. Gary Lachman, following in
the steps of A. Alvarez, has written a fascinating study of literary suicides
that is a must for anyone intent on taking that particular mode of exit from
this curious world.
Editorial
2
Will
Shakespeare’s Hand: Colin Wilson 4
A
Dolphin in a Sentry Box: Tony Shaw 13
Richard
Savage & Earl Rochester:
Adam
Daly 23
A.N.
Whitehead: Colin Wilson 51
Timothy
Evans was a Murderer:
Matthew
Coniam 61
E.H.
Visiak: Anthony Harrison-Barbet 66
Marcus
Blunt at Sixty, a self-appraisal 73
Epilogic
Convergence: Vaughan
Robertson
75
Viper
in the Temple: Mark Valentine 91
Look
Back in Amazement: Paul Newman 97
Introduction
to The Happy Turning:
Colin
Wilson 98
Winged
Avengers: Paul Newman 103
The
Strength to Dream: Colin Stanley 110
Walking
like Demigods: Derek Fanning 116
Confronting
Medusa: David Power 158
Methodist
Crusader: Alan Kent 162
Far
Beyond the World: Derek Fanning 164
Bleak
Hotel: Paul Newman 169
Letter
from Funkytown: Lee Cooper 142
Coup
de Foudre: Adam Daly 148
Peter
Whitehead by Terry Little, 148
POETRY
REVIEWS: 133
Svengali
of Healing: Paul Newman 155
Analysing
Bliss: Paul Newman 157
Chorus:
Michael Carver 119
For
Their Sins by Adam Daly 121
Two
Perch: A.R. Lamb 124
Disgustomer:
Paul Newman 129
Independence
Day: Pamela
Smith-Rawnsley
133
