Author: Benjamin DeCasseres
Introduction: Kevin I. Slaughter
Publisher: Underworld Amusements
Pages: 358 Size: 6x9"
Release date: February, 2019 ISBN: 978-1943687152
“Moses came down from Horeb with a light on his face. I came back from the Peaks of Renunciation and the Himalayas of Pure Intelligence with a leer on my face—a leer and a menace, and a sword in my hand—a red sword, a poisoned sword, a sword tempered in lightnings and blessed with my blasphemies.” —Benjamin DeCasseres
“DeCasseres is the most fiery and independent writer that I know of.” —Remy de Gourmont
“(DeCasseres has) the verve and the transcendental courage of the old American free-lancers, the Emersons, Thoreaus, Mark Twains and Whitmans.” —George Santayana
“(DeCasseres’) essays are the poetry of utter philosophy…” —Jack London
This single volume contains all the bombastic essays and visionary observations that were originally published in four different volumes of this mirthful imp’s writing. From his first book of essays Chameleon: Being a Book of My Selves (1922) through his aphoristic and quotable The Muse of Lies (1936) to both parts of the rare Saint Tantalus (1936 & 1938), this collection cover great swaths of time, space, philosophy and art.
Editor’s Note by Kevin I. Slaughter 3
Book One: Chameleon 5
The Brain and the World 7
The Mirth of the Brain 10
Wonder 14
The Almightiness of Might 20
The Intangible Life 25
The Irony of Negatives 32
History 39
The Passion of Distance 46
The Comic View 50
The Artist 54
Under a Mask 60
A Memorable Escape 64
The Masquerade 70
Respectability 74
The Impenitent 79
The Eternal Renaissance 88
Silence 93
Posterity: The New Superstition 98
An Evaporating Universe 103
The Trail of the Worm 109
Cosmic Marionettes 114
The Drama of Days 118
Absorption: A Universal Law 121
Acatalepsy 126
Coda 130
Book Two: The Muse of Lies 137
Foreword 139
The Muse of Lies 141
Book Three: Saint Tantalus 263
The Venom Of Idealists 265
Good And Evil: The Ghastly Juggernauts 273
Dissolving Zeniths 277
Men And Women: Nature’s Folly 289
The Species-Ghost 292
The Unconscious 296
Hate 300
Philisophic Spleen 303
Nihilism: The Fatal Spite 306
The Root Of Spleen 312
Grinning Goals 314
Truth: The Mocker In The Mist 322
Happiness: The Invention Of Momus 331
Disenchantment: Behind The Arras 335
The Call Of Dionysus 341
The Call Of Maya 344
The Intellect: St. Elmo Fire 347
