"Hugs can do great amounts of good - especially for children." -- Princess Diana

"The World was all before them, where to choose Thir place of rest, and Providence thir guide: They hand in hand with wandring steps and slow, Through Eden took thir solitarie way." --John Milton

Charles Bronson and Jill Ireland

But where do we go from here, moreover in our quest to place love at the center of our community? Try HERE.

A Possible Place for Aesthetics in the Formulations of Logic, Judgement, and Knowledge

"Knowledge is the perception of the connection and agreement, or disagreement or repugnancy, of any of our ideas."
        --John Locke, An Essay Concerning Human Understanding
 
"Perhaps the most important thing in connection to aesthetics is what might be called aesthetic reactions, e.g. discontent, disgust, discomfort. The expression of discontent is not the same as the expression of discomfort. The expression of discomfort says: 'Make it higher . . . too low! . . . Do something to this.'" 
      --Ludwig Wittgenstein, notes on architecture made during the construction of the family home in Vienna.

Morlocks very bad

if only

May 1

International Authors and the editors of Emanations are happy to announce a Call for Submissions:

Emanations 7

Emanations is an anthology series featuring fiction, poetry, and essays. The emphasis is on alternative narrative structures, new epistemologies, peculiar settings, esoteric themes, sharp breaks from reality, ecstatic revelations, and vivid and abundant hallucinations.

The editors are interested in literary writing. We seek fiction and poetry that present unworldly ways of seeing, feeling, and describing. Recognizable genres -- science fiction, fantasy, horror, political dystopia, satire, mystery, local color, romance, realism, surrealism, and postmodernism -- are fine, but the chief idea is to make something new, and along these lines the illusion of something new can be just as important.

If a story or poem makes someone say, “Yes, it is good, but what is it?” then it is right for Emanations.  

Essays should be exuberant, daring, and free of pedantry. Accounts of unusual travels will fit well into Emanations 7. Length is a consideration in making publication decisions, but in keeping with the spirit of the project contributors should consider length to be “open.”

Our editorial vision is evolving. Contributors should see themselves as actively shaping the “vision” of Emanations.

Email files with brief cover note to:

IAsubmissions@hotmail.com

Review of Submissions begins May 1, 2018

Contributors should place their name in the subject heading, and they should include their name and contact information in the submitted file.

Emanations is a not-for-profit literary project and contributors cannot be compensated at this time. All proceeds from the sale of Emanations will support the efforts of International Authors to publish new voices from around the world. Contributors receive a copy upon publication. Only one complimentary copy will be sent to each contributor; the fortunes of the mail, particularly international mail, is beyond the control of International Authors.

The project is a collaborative effort, and as we share ideas the “vision” transforms, evolves, and grows. When we write stories and poems we hope to bring to bear the entire battery of modern and postmodern literary devices. More simply: we like good, strong writing. Our essays are incisive, precise, keen, challenging, and driven by the writer’s desire to advance an intelligent audience’s understanding of exotic subjects.

The Fine Print:

1) Submit files as follows: double space, Microsoft Word, Times New Roman size #11.  Set Tabs for .2” and set spacing at 15. Use smart quotes. This will help reduce the workload as the editors format book for publication.

2) No simultaneous submissions (contributors should get fairly quick feedback anyway, especially if their submission meets our needs). Material that is obviously pulled from a file and has nothing to do with the goals of the anthology won’t get any feedback beyond the initial acknowledgement.

3) Word count/line count? See details above. We’re flexible, but contributors should be sensible when considering what they send in. A novella? Well, maybe, and so on.... Rules of thumb: a) Stories: very short to 20-30 pages. b) Poems: send in 5-10 pages. c) Essays: 5-10-30 pages.

4) Published as hard copy only -- Emanations will be available on Amazon. Participants who make a substantial contribution of material, editorial work, or art will get a copy. It can take some time to get copies to contributors outside of North America. In the case of our first anthology, for example, it took forty-five days to get a copy to a contributor in to Nepal. As described above, only one copy will be sent to each contributor; the fate of the mail, particularly international mail, is beyond the control of International Authors.

5) International Authors is a consortium, and as such every contributor is a “member” of our community, and contributors are encouraged to help promote the anthology by sending review copies to newspapers, journals and relevant Web sites.

6) Copyright “reverts” to contributors upon publication. That is, after an accepted piece appears in Emanations, the contributor can publish their piece elsewhere. Contributors should understand that Emanations will remain for sale on Amazon indefinitely. All materials appearing in Emanations are under the exclusive copyright of the contributing writers and artists.

7) Note to poets: Please do not send poems as individual files. All poetry submissions should be sent as a SINGLE MircosoftWord file formatted in Times New Roman, size 11.  Please submit three to ten pages.

8) Note on calendar: The editors will not review submitted files until May 1, 2018. 

Contributors submitting work to Emanations agree to these points. 

Published by International Authors

Board of Editorial Advisors

Ruud Antonius, Netherlands/UK/Switzerland

Steve Aylett, UK
 Bienvenido "Bones" Banez, Jr., Philippines/US
Holly Baumgartner, US

Michael Beard, US

Michael Butterworth, UK
 Ezeiyoke Chukwunonso, Nigeria/Wales
Tessa B. Dick, US

Jason W. Ellis, US

Cedric Cester, Spain

Mike Chivers, UK

Horace Jeffery Hodges, South Korea
Gareth Jackson, UK

Sushma Joshi, Nepal

Carter Kaplan, US
Philip Murray-Lawson, France

Devashish Makhija, India
C. E. Matthews, N. Ireland
Aziz Mustafa, Kosovo
Michael Moorcock, US/UK

Vitasta Raina, India

Elkie Riches, UK
Marielle R. Risse, US/Oman 

Kai Robb, US
Ebi Robert, Nigeria
Joel K. Soiseth, US

Stephen Sylvester, US
Don Tinsley, US
 

The Highbrow Vocation in Theory and Practice

Literary paths to philosophy, for young people

In a recent article in The Daily Nous entitled "Making a Case for Pre-College Philosophy", Justin Weinberg advocates teaching philosophy to young people, presents evidence of its value, and argues for the importance of that evidence to professional philosophy...

I disagree. 

When I consider the phrase "Philosophy for Children" my best response is: "The Greek Myths."  I am thinking something along the lines of, "I take it Greek thought and action are deeply connected. Ergo, Heracles and Theseus represent to children models of thoughtful action."

In any event, I disagree with teaching "Philosophical Problems"; that is, the sorts of "Philosophical Problems" that occupy university philosophers, which are not problems so much as thy are artifacts of the power and food chains created by the academic context... and anyway are not appropriate considerations of what I consider to be "important" philosophical matters. 

The "philosophy" young people need is taught in stories and a handful of political documents, as follows:

The Bible
"The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" - Irving
"The Purloined Letter" - Poe
"The Gold Bug" - Poe
"Young Goodman Brown"  - Hawthorne
"Sinners in the Hands of a Just and Angry God" - Edwards
"A discourse concerning the unlimited submission and non-resistance to the high powers" -Mayhew (highlights.. teachers could re-tell)
"Areopagitica" . . . (Perhaps an impossible task for most teachers, but re-telling the main points is more than worth it)
Paradise Lost (another impossible task, but I've had luck re-telling some of the highlights, albeit with college students)
The Scarlet LetterMoby-Dick (if it's possible to get them to read it, and if their teachers can understand it, which I doubt)
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
The Declaration of Independence
The U.S. Constitution
"The Virginia Act of Religious Freedom"
Julius Caesar
Hamlet
Frankenstein
Animal Farm
1984
"Politics and the English Language"
Brave New WorldA Clockwork Orange
Lolita - Nabokov
Pale Fire - Nabokov
Bend Sinister - Nabokov
UBIK - Philip K. Dick
The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch - Philip K. Dick
The Transmigration of Timothy Archer - Philip K. Dick
Selections from Swift
Aristophanes' The Clouds, and if they can handle that, show them some Lucian: "The Sale of Philosophies"
Oedipus Rex - Sophocles
The Oresteia - Aeschylus
Anabasis / The Persian Expedition - Xenophon  And, returning to my original "theme" of representing thoughtful action to young people, I'll conclude by saying, "What Xenophon thinks--ah, and what Xenophon does!

Key to Test Pattern Interpretation

Richard Kostelanetz and his library

Please click HERE for an April 4 New York Times article on the home of Richard Kostelanetz, which is a library (and publishing and printing studio) containing 25,000 books.

John Milton in Outer Space News

Terrance Lindall is preparing promotional activities for his John Milton in Outer Space project.  I'll keep the Highbrow community in the loop as things develop.

To learn about the project, please click HERE.

Radiant Snow is now available on Kindle

Horace Jeffery Hodges' Radiant Snow is now available on Kindle. Please click HERE.

Mascarade à la Grecque

      --E. A. Petitot

Coming soon...

Things are busy at Highbrow HQ.  Some new books are on the way from International authors. Stay tuned...

What if he's right?

What if he's right?

Terrance Lindall Videogram to Horace Jeffery Hodges

“Yes, it is good, but what is it?” then it is right for Emanations -- Kostelantez Responds

Highbrow readers are acquainted with the Call for Submissions for Emanations, which culminates in the line: "If a story or poem makes someone say, 'Yes, it is good, but what is it?' then it is right for Emanations."

Recalling this, Richard Kostelanetz (website) sent me the following from an exchange with Thomas Fink that is forthcoming in Dichtung Yammer.

Fink:  Why might one call your poetry “poetry”?

Kostelanetz:   What else to call such artistic inventions with words when no other category is more appropriate, though from time to time I’ve heard the dismissive “not poetry,” which I don’t mind as much as others might, since I appreciate the distinguished tradition of work dismissed as “not art” in the 20th century.

   "Word games” I’ve been told, though from time to time I’ve argued as a critic that some so-called word games, such as palindromes or tongue-twisters, represent inventive High Folk Poetry that is esthetically formalist by virtue of its compositional rules. I suppose some of the more challenging crossword puzzles would count as well, though I don’t do crossword puzzles or play Scrabble, among other popular recreations with words. (My mother was an ace at the word game called Anagrams, which she said she never lost. I know I never beat her. Couldn’t figure out how she did it, because she didn’t read much. I grew up in a house with no lamp next to any chair. My father on weekends would put his New York Times on the carpet to read it.)

   In my book Proudly I Parade Exclusions (2017) I gladly note that the Poetry Foundation, the Academy of American Poets, Poets’ House, Ubuweb, magazines with “Poetry” in their title, the “best” poetry annuals, and the poetry book reviewing media have never acknowledged me, even though my poems have appeared for decades, yes for more than five decades, in several highly selective poetry anthologies and are mentioned in several critical histories of poetry.  Though I have received a few dozen grants and fellowships, the only sponsor to reward my creative writing was the Berliner Kunstlerprogramm. By this measure of continued American institutional resistance alone, was, is, and must my poetry still be genuinely avant-garde. Consider that being unacceptable for fifty years, even with elite recognitions, might be a unique achievement in American arts. Not even John Cage was unacceptable for so long.

Fractal anomorphoses on the surface of a gelid star

Escape Trajectories is now available

On behalf of International Authors (in association with NULL23) I am happy to announce the publication of Escape Trajectories, a collection of innovative narratives by William Weiss and Gareth Jackson, with an Introduction by Michael Butterworth. Here are links to the Amazon sales pages, and to the updated International Authors website:
 
Amazon
Amazon UK
International Authors

Professor Hodges reviews Vitasta Raina's Writer's Block

Professor Hodges has written a review of Vitasta Raina's novella Writer's Block. Please click HERE.
 

Vitasta Raina

 

Horace Jeffery Hodges