Synopses

A QUESTION OF BELIEF: I first got the idea of writing a series of dialogues in 1978 from reading the French philosopher Diderot, one of the great masters of the genre, and the result, several weeks later, was four fairly lengthy philosophical dialogues, which enabled me to continue developing the dualistic theories begun the previous year (1977) and included in A DUALISTIC PHILOSOPHY. Their subject-matter ranges from book collecting as an art and the morality of films to the influence of astrology on writers and retrospective perspectives on history, and although they tend to be a little one-sided, they are at least broad enough to be of some interest to the general reader.

THE FALL OF LOVE: The six essays included here, dating from 1979, signify a transitional stage away from the dualism of the above and previous works towards the Spenglerian historicism that, with the influence of environment upon the rise and fall of civilizations, was to characterize my literary work at around this period. Subjects discussed in such a light include literature, music, meditation, art, urban development, and love.