There’s a secret back door to the Ivory Tower.
Follow college professor Andrew Viam through that secret passageway as he goes on an Odyssey into the real world full of love and violence.
Published: January 21st, 2016
There’s a secret back door to the Ivory Tower.
Follow college professor Andrew Viam through that secret passageway as he goes on an Odyssey into the real world full of love and violence.
Will he survive?
This is an open question. He falls for a woman, but then she’s running away from a boyfriend who’s into Organized Crime and wants her back.
From the tough city streets of Chicago to the wild woods of Wisconsin, Andrew will have to call on new resources if he wants to make it alive to next term. It’s a summer break he’d never experienced—and hopefully never will again.
GUEST POST
People looking at my book at Amazon.com or Barnes and Noble.com will notice that Naked Reverse is described as being in the Archē Series of books. This immediately raises the questions of ”What is the Archē Series? and “How significant is it to be the first?” Let’s look at these two questions in order. The answers will also illumine the way I envision how fiction can discuss important issues.
First, then the Archē Series seeks to explore philosophical themes within the context of varying novelistic structures that endeavor to define some of the major directions of that fiction form. In the case of Naked Reverse the way the story is told is chronological. The plot type is adventurous with some violence. Since the main character is a college professor, and since we generally think of the artificial academic community as violence-free, then this intrigue is rather harrowing for the main character. There is a real chance that he will be dead before the end of the book. But on the other hand, by escaping the Ivory Tower, Andrew Viam has a real chance of grounding his life on something firmer than a pile of dusty books.
The next book(s) in the Archē Series is called Georgia. This is a long story that will be presented in three volumes (similar to the Hunger Games). The structural feature in Georgia’s three parts is the novel as epic. Because of the exalted form (the epic) Georgia intends to tell a story with great ramifications: racial identity in the United States in the state of Georgia between 1900 and 1930.
Second, fiction can discuss these big questions “How can we ensure that we lead authentic lives?” (Naked Reverse) and “How does racial identity affect one’s opportunities in life—even among the gifted?” (Georgia). When we read stories that tackle the big questions, most of us find the experience more amenable than picking up a tome of Plato. (And this coming from me, a professional philosopher!) I backed-up this intuition in 2011 through an empirical study of 1,000 college students in the U.S.A. and Australia. The result was unambiguous: reading about the big questions in life within fiction enhances engagement with the ideas and is really more fun!
I have a website: michaelboylan.net. If any readers want to post comments on my blog, feel free. I’ll reply promptly.
About the author:
Michael Boylan is Professor and Chair of Philosophy at Marymount University. He is the author of 29 books and over 130 articles in literature and philosophy. He has delivered invited lectures in 14 countries on 5 continents. He is a lifetime fellow of the British Arts Trust in Reigate, Surrey.
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