Eelscapes

Eelscapes (A Tale Of 1983) Describes The Movement Through Life At A Specific Time And Place From Eight Distinct Vantage Points Each Described In Its Own Chapter Whose Title Indicates What The Reader Can Expect To Encounter Therein. Chapter One. Planetary Vespers. The Prayer Recited At The Evening Hour. Here The Reader First Encounters The Main Character Stan Pecadillo Returning Home From Work By Train Entertaining Many Troubling Thoughts About His Young Life With All Its Recent Memories Which He Brought Home From University Along With His Diploma. Self-Analysis Runs Rampant As Stan'S Mind Nervously Seeks An Acceptable Explanation For His Contrived Predicament Using Words Recently Culled From The Ivory Tower. Chapter Two. Ars Absurdum. Stan Reflects On His Neglected Artistic Nature As He Sees First-Hand The Price Of Without The Rewards Of Working Hard At Conformity For The Purpose Of Building A Life With The Promise Of Domestic Tranquility. He Reflects On The Highs Of Fantasy And The Lows Of Menial Labor. His Thoughts Dart About Frantically Like A Swarm Of Gnats. Chapter Three. The Three S'S. Stan Reflects On Many Matters From The Death Of His Father During His Infancy To The Wonder Of Ancient Greek Philosophy Waiting To Come To Our Aid If We'D Only Seek It. The Role Of Music As Sound Track To Our Lives As Americans. The Wonder Of It All In Spite Of The Pain And Elusive Nature Of Clues That Describe The Big Picture. Taking Refuge In Stubbornness And Its Tendency To Deprive One Of The Full Measure Of Freedom And Liberty. Chapter Four. Bringing In The Sheaves. Community Awareness And What One Is About Versus What The Local Gossip Makes Of One'S Appearance. How One Arrives At That Enviable State Of Becoming An Actual Pillar Of Strength Among People. Love Versus Society And The Need For His Lost Love And Muse Ginger. Hamlet'S Real-Life Model Appears On Stage To Berate A Terrified Shakespeare Seated Among His Own Audience. Chapter Five. Bang Television. The Irony Of Free Speech In The World When Individuality Contradicts Democracy. Of The Social Tyrant Human Courtship And Its Many Terms. The Question Of The Relationship Between Art And Democracy. How Haste Can Lead One To Explore The Vast Literature Of Perhaps Zen. The Human Sense Of Omniscience. The Consequences Of The Birth Of Communication Into One'S Unsuspecting Life. A Recurring Antiessentialist Nightmare And The Problem And Quest Of Identifying Talent. Chapter Six. The Inventory And Confession. Accounting And What Follows A Description Of This. Idea Versus Ideal Reveals Recognizably Bad Aspects. Not All Behavior Is Political. Rest Versus Copping Out. Woman Sex And Confrontation. An Inventory Of The Self Reveals The Man Buried Beneath An Avalanche Of Possessions Real And Imagined. Chapter Seven. Democracy Revisited. Square Hole Square Peg And The Chemistry Of Ego. St. Thomas' Influence On Stan'S View Of His Own Development Via A Welcome Escape From Aristotle. Patriotism And Non-Conformity Compared. Chapter Eight. Taps. Born Again Again. Danielle Reappears With Mom And Ghosts Of Dad And Family Too. The Times Following Father'S Death. Innocence Deafened By That Old Familiar Death Knell. Stan'S Fear That His Nature Was His Doom. America'S Voraciousness And Anti-Christian Heroism. The Ultimate Question Revisited And Laid To Rest.