The Fatal Shore

"The Portable Magritte" represents a new approach to the enjoyment and study of art in book form. With more than 400 color reproductions and a compact handheld size, this book manages to be affordable and comprehensive. It's like a catalogue raisonne that fits in a backpack. This accessible format is a perfect match for the paintings of Rene Magritte-one of the few twentieth-century painters whose works are immediately approachable and who has an enduring cultlike following. His surrealistic and mysterious visions always provoke introspective thought and imagination. All of Magritte's most characteristic and beloved motifs-the green apple, the bowler hat, and the dreamlike twilight hour-make their appearance, along with some surprising lesser-known paintings. The artist's method and meaning is explored in an intriguing essay by Robert Hughes, the art critic for "Time" magazine and acclaimed commentator on art and culture. A hip and current update on this timeless artist, "The Portable Magritte" makes an ideal gift for students as well as art lovers of any age.

Magritte

We are fooled by our brain and do not know it. We are not who we think we are. We never decide, and we can only know events in retrospect. Any act (including any thought) that we find ourselves launched upon is a commitment to the unknown because the act is unconscious until completed. It pops into existence. We cannot know whether we will successfully pick up a cup of tea or spill it, walk or trip, stand up or stumble. We do not, cannot, know what we are doing, only what we have already done. Life at every moment is an adventure! There is much more. Person-to-person communication is not possible. Our brain does not allow it. Awareness of our environment is a chimera. Self-knowledge unachievable. This may strike the ear as fatalistic, or self-defeating, or hopeless, but paradoxically it is the foundation of our freedom and responsibility. Neuroscience has finally freed us from the burdens of guilt and shame, while simultaneously providing an entirely new and exciting perspective on our identity. In the mid-19th century, Darwin outlined the controversial Unified Theory of Biology. Since Einstein's 1915 Relativity Theory and the development of Quantum Theory in the 1920s, physicists have established GUT (grand unified theory) and are now working towards TOE (the theory of everything). But other fields of knowledge are also advancing. Currently, neuroscience is making unprecedented strides in understanding the workings of the brain. In this book, Hughes picks up on these traces to speculate upon a Unified Theory of Awareness which looks to transform our self-understanding as much as Relativity has changed our perspective on the cosmos. (www.bodywisdom.press)

Towards a Unified Theory of Awareness

Leftovers presents selections from Hughes' published and unpublished writings, chosen by the author, and with commentaries supplied by Hughes regarding their composition, intent, and relevance (or lack of such). The nonfiction ranges from Hughes' most current work, the science-based Ydentitysm, to pieces which though now outdated (after 40 years of studying religion, Hughes concludes that religious perspectives have outlived their usefulness) nevertheless contain telling points for those interested in human identity, psychology, and meaning. Hughes' fictional excerpts include the humorous, the satirical, the absurd, and the eerie. Almost an entire long story, The Viper with the Human Tongue, is included in the pulp fiction genre. An absurdist play on Tom Thomson that is reminiscent of Beckett's Waiting for Godot is presented in its entirety. And Hughes' poetry ranges from the Fluxus-inspired to Canadian landscape.

Leftovers

A memoir by an author who forgets his life. He invents stories about a turtle, a carnivorous human species, a voyageur pilgrim, and in the process, learns about himself. He even forgets language, and by reinventing it, finds its purpose. By the memoir's end, he is ready to begin living.

Satchel

Cord-Reading is the most ancient of all arts, its practice stretching back to the very origins of Homo sapiens. Part game, part divination, part art, the cord has fascinated societies around the globe. In this manual, Hughes updates the practice for the modern reader, describing how cord-reading can connect us with the creativity of our unconscious brain. Providing a step-by-step guide with illustrations, charts, and explanations, Hughes gives a thorough grounding for anyone interested in pursuing this art. As with yoga and ting jing, cord-reading calms consciousness, gradually allowing the whole person to enter into awareness. Hughes writes, "Creativity is not necessarily accurate. It is adaptive. Its answers require testing. If they prove ineffective, what other recourse does a person have other than to give up or create again?" Cord-reading is thus not offered as a panacea, but rather as a creative discipline that can enrich one's self-understanding. (www.bodywisdom.press)

Cord-Reading, A Bodying Practice

Written on the centenary of Canadian painter Tom Thomson's mysterious death, this book consists of reflections upon twenty-two of Thomson's paintings. Each reflection stands on its own as a two-page word-image, imitating the concise intensity of Thomson's famous 22 by 27 cm sketches, examining creativity, authenticity, and identity in life. A further twenty-two vignettes flesh out the genderless alter ego that Hughes names TT, an irreverent nonconformist following a free-spirited way of life only very loosely based on Thomson. As the book progresses, TT takes on mythic proportions, and Hughes' language becomes more poetically challenging for the task at hand. Meticulously researched by the author for accurate detail, Hughes also has 40 years of intimate familiarity with the lakes and hills where Thomson lived. In TT, a Canadian figure emerges along the lines of Gary Snyder and Henry David Thoreau.

The Fatal Shore

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