First Dazzling Chill of Winter, The
A sixth volume of stories about Philip Rawley, the treatment of whose fortunes began in the early 1960s.
A sixth volume of stories about Philip Rawley, the treatment of whose fortunes began in the early 1960s.
A sixth volume of stories about Philip Rawley, the treatment of whose fortunes began in the early 1960s.
Short stories (single author)
Nicholas Hagger’s Collected Stories covered five volumes containing 1,001 very short stories detailing five decades (from the 1960s to the 2000s) in the life of Philip Rawley, whose demise was misleadingly announced at the end of the fifth volume. This sixth volume contains 201 stories and deals with the chill of winter, impending old age.
These mini-stores present a wide range of characters, and their follies and flaws. They offer a complete literary experience in a page or two, and their combination of opposites derives its inspiration from the 17th century: Dr Johnson’s description in his ‘Life of Cowley’ of the wit of the Metaphysical poets as “a combination of dissimilar images” in which “the most heterogeneous ideas are yoked by violence together”. They are verbal paintings that present an image in action and reveal a poet’s eye for significant detail.
Hagger’s stories are innovatory in their brevity. They are imagistic, economical and vivid, and cumulatively reflect the Age. They are ideal for short concentration spans: reading on journeys or in bed. Individual stories drop into the consciousness like a stone into a well, leaving the mind to reflect on the ripples. These imaginative stories in clean prose make excellent reading and contain memorable images and studies of character.
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How much William James would have supported all those who value the quality and range of a truly comprehensive modern awareness as Nicholas Hagger does. ~ Sir Laurens van der Post
Praise for The Light of Civilization: An extraordinary book. ~ David Gascoyne
Brilliant! ~ Nexus
He hits a pace, a tilt, that really carries the reader along...Everything comes as a subordinate clause to his dramatic momentum, a hand waving out of the express train window. ~ Ted Hughes, Poet Laureate
His poetic felicities include a poetic mix of Eliot, Pound and Blake; the judicious invention of his own psychological terms to guide his progress; an unafraid nakedness, linked to philosophic and scientific adventurousness; genuine visionary leanings and occasional lyric beauty. ~ Sebastian Barker, Past chairman of The Poetry Society
Nicholas Hagger writes with a rare intellectual passion. ~ Sir Laurens van der Post