This little novella, based around an autobiographical fantasy, relates the nocturnal visit of an old acquaintance to the flat of a former admirer who, being something of a philosopher, had optimistically written to her in the hope of receiving a positive response. What follows is a romantic pact in which Carmel agrees to live with Joe provided he accepts responsibility for her daughter, Julia. He does, and the trio live happily ever after, or so it would seem. For when Julia comes of age there is a sexual treat in store for her which conforms to the post-atomic integrity of our narrative, and...

The essayistic introduction to this little collection of abstract poems attempts to point up a distinction between poetry and antipoetry, and then to contrast both of these with what has been termed superpoems - the abstract poetry of a transcendental age or civilization which strives to dissolve grammatical appearances into a non-descriptive essence. Whether or not John O'Loughlin was successful in this or even correct in his overall theorizing at this time (1983), Abstracts is a collection of poems which, whilst mostly readerly (or capable of being read), is devoid of conventional...

As a six-chapter novella with first-person narrative and a loosely autobiographical tendency this text explores the concept of sexual politics, or the notion that every mode of politics has a sexual corollary. Although such an idea was by no means new to John O'Loughlin's work at the time (1984), it hadn't been explored to anything like the same extent by him before, and it is a theme to which he has since returned quite frequently, always seeking to logically or structurally improve upon his initial theories, which he has learnt, through experience, to regard as being more of a springboard...

This substantial collection of essays, dialogues, aphorisms and maxims, dating from 1983-84, is largely the reverse, in formal terms, of 'The Will to Truth', its philosophical precursor, inasmuch as its first part is essayistic and its second part entirely composed of dialogues, thereby again bringing these two modes of philosophical phenomenality - as opposed to the noumenality, as it were, of the aphorisms and maxims - into harmony or, at any rate, close juxtaposition. Here, as before, the essays constitute the main aspect of the work, and they are once again conceived within the protective...

Dating from 1984, this collection of forty-four poems continues in the free-verse style of 'Spiritual Intimations' (1983), albeit the verse is at all times prevented from degenerating into prose through the application of a methodological consistency which continues to favour the definite/indefinite article at the expense of lesser words. More significant of this collection is its greater concern with a general approach to metaphysics, including subatomic theories, which, though far from definitive, enabled John O'Loughlin to dig beneath the surface of his themes to what he hoped would be...

Comprised of autobiographical sketches, this unusual literary work is divided into four sections, the first dating from 1983, the second from 1985, the third from 1993, and the fourth from 1996. These sketches, which are by definition approximations to a literary self-portrait, were written in the notational vein of the author's mature philosophy (especially from 1985 onwards) and often overlap with general speculations on a variety of subjects which have played a significant role in his personal life. Thus they are anything but purely autobiographical, although autobiography forms the basis...

This collection of short prose puts John O'Loughlin's ideological philosophy of Social Transcendentalism (as explained in the book by the same title) through a literary prism, as we explore a variety of interrelated themes from a loosely fictional standpoint. In fact politics, whether or not associated with a correlative mode of sexuality (as in his novella entitled 'The Politics of Sexuality'), also figures quite prominently here, though usually in connection with Social Transcendentalism, which is both political and, as the term suggests, more than political. Those especially interested in...

The sixteen prose poems in this modest collection should ideally be suited to those who prefer their poetry prosy and mainly concerned with philosophical issues or, at any rate, with a philosophical treatment of issues and subjects which could be treated more frivolously if one lacked the intellectual machinery and moral insight with which to tackle them in this particular way. One suspects that John O'Loughlin's first attempt at prose poems, back in 'From the Beginning' (1973-6), was more poetically frivolous than is to be found here; though that would be in keeping with his work of the...