Socrates is Dead Again

<p><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>When famed literary giant Adrian Gerd Wahl ends his life he sets in motion the story of </span><em style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>Socrates is Dead Again</em><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>. As existential mystery concerning the suicide of a prominent literary figure the novel</span><em style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)> </em><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>delves into his life as juxtaposed with and through the lens of a diverse group of young writer characters who wanted to be him or obsessively admired him. Like Godot in Beckett's </span><em style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>Waiting for Godot</em><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)> the central figure in this experimental narrative is largely physically absent yet his presence is continuously felt as well as imaginatively recreated by the other characters. The co-protagonists in the novel take us into the writing life on the American literary scene. Their quest for elusive literary achievement is variously tragic darkly humorous and irrepressibly hopeful.</span></p><p> </p><p><em style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>Socrates is Dead Again </em><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>reveals story through multi-voiced short narratives in which story itself becomes a character. Writing as an attempt to understand chasing fame jealousies reading literature transgression mystery in the tragedy of suicide and hope coupled with doubt behind a writer's words are the threads that connect. The novel also explores the concept of individual authorship in the context of death of the author literary theory through story. Ultimately </span><em style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>Socrates is Dead</em><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)> </span><em style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>Again</em><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)> is a search for the meaning of an individual's life and our struggle to be recognized in an often chaotic and indifferent world. </span></p><p><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)> </span></p><p><em style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>Socrates is Dead Again</em><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)> was a finalist in 2019 William Faulkner-William Wisdom Creative Writing competition in the novel category and is meant to be a shared reading experience with writers and readers who work on or think about one day writing the great American novel.</span></p>