Welcome to the LITERARY FICTION of
A SELFISH MAN
by John O’Loughlin of Centretruths Digital Media
Links to the files of
which follow the brief introduction below:-
Another
volume of short prose in which a number of my principal philosophical themes
are recycled in literary guise for the benefit of a wider understanding, A Selfish Man begins with the title piece, a first-person narrative by an
advocate of spiritual selfishness, and winds its way through fifteen other examples
of my art in this field, culminating in a section of interior monologues which
features twelve different thinkers who successively elaborate on their likes
and dislikes from a similar ideological standpoint, thereby establishing a
unity of mind which transcends their phenomenal differences. In between these two extremes there are
varying amounts of unity and disunity between the characters, but all are
caught in the throes of a vigorous philosophical debate. For here, as in other kindred works, action
is subordinate to thought, whether we are dealing with a drive to the cinema, a
couple watching television, reflections on a soapbox orator, a clandestine
affair, or the vicissitudes of a revolutionary politician. Sometimes the characters have names,
sometimes not. Sometimes they are a
fairly transparent projection of me, at other times a degree of fictional
objectivity has gone into their fashioning.
Whatever the case, A Selfish Man, dating from 1983, bears ample
witness to this philosopher-artist's search for literary perfection through
thought. - John O'Loughlin.
CONTENTS
A SELFISH MAN
SEX IN THE HEAD
VISUAL EXPERIENCES
CLASS DISTINCTIONS
WORLDS WITHIN WORLDS
SPIRITUAL LEADERS
TWO KINDS OF STRENGTH
BETWEEN TWO EXTREMES
RELATIVITY
REVOLUTIONARY REVELATIONS
POLAR ATTRACTIONS
UNDERSTANDING BUREAUCRACY
A THINKER AT LARGE
RELATIVE DISTINCTIONS
DOING IT ALONE
TWELVE THINKERS
All files Copyright
© 1983-2011 John O’Loughlin
Preview the Lulu eBook @
A SELFISH MAN
For a complete list of his projects @ Lulu.com visit:-
JOHN O'LOUGHLIN's STOREFRONT
Other prose websites by the author
include:-
FROM THE DEVIL TO GOD
DREAM COMPROMISE
MILLENNIAL PROJECTIONS
TEXT LINKS
John O'Loughlin's Wordpress Space
MySpace weblogs
Email: john-oloughlin@centretruths.co.uk
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
John O’Loughlin was born in Salthill, Galway, the Republic of Ireland, of mixed Irish- and British-born parents in 1952. Following a parental split due to ethnic and other incompatibilities (they called her 'Mary Aldershot'), he was
brought to England by his mother and grandmother (who had initially returned to
Ireland with intent to stay following the death of her British-based husband) in the mid-50s and subsequently attended schools
in Aldershot and, following the death and repatriation of his Irish-born grandmother,
Carshalton Beeches, Surrey, where, despite an enforced change of denomination
from Catholic to Protestant in consequence of having been put into care by his mother, he attended a state school. Graduating in 1970 with an
assortment of CSE’s (Certificate of Secondary Education)
and GCE’s (General Certificate of Education),
including history and music, he moved the comparatively short distance up to London and went on, via two
short-lived jobs, to work at the Royal Schools of Music in Bedford Square,
where he eventually became responsible for booking examination venues. After a brief flirtation with Redhill
Technical College back in Surrey, he returned to his former job in the West End
but retired from the ABRSM in 1976 due to a combination of factors, including
ill-health, and proceeded to dedicate himself to a literary vocation which, despite a brief
spell as a computer tutor at Hornsey YMCA in the late '80s and early '90s, he
has effectively continued with ever since. His novels include Changing Worlds (1976),
An Interview Reviewed (1979), Secret Exchanges (1980), Sublimated Relations (1981), and False Pretences (1982). From the mid-80s Mr O'Loughlin has exclusively dedicated himself to philosophy, his
true literary vocation, and penned more than sixty titles of a
philosophical nature, including Devil and God – The Omega Book (1985-6), Towards
the Supernoumenon (1987), Elemental Spectra (1988-9),
Philosophical Truth (1991-2) and, more recently, The Best of All Possible Worlds (2008) and The Centre of Truth (2009). John O'Loughlin has continued, since 1974, to live at various addresses in Crouch End and Hornsey, north London, but would like, one day, to return to Ireland.
Copyright © 2011 Centretruths Digital Media
John O'Loughlin
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