ABOUT

There’s a lot to be found on this here website. For one, there’s about a decade of personal essays, as well as essays about other topics — mostly literature and philosophy. There’s also long-form criticism of such novels as Dream of the Red Chamber and Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus. Keeping on the literary theme, there is a list of Great Books and a few overviews of my favourite authors. (I also have a Youtube channel where I talk about books.)

There are also blog posts. These are writings I don't consider coherent enough to call essays — however, in truth, I must admit that they are essentially mini-essays.

But who am I?

Balckwell: A Condensed Autiobiography
or,
A Crystal Clear Report to the General Public Concerning the Actual Essence of My Life: An Attempt to Force the Reader to Understand

Some years ago — never mind how long precisely — having little or no money in my purse, and nothing particular to interest me on shore, I thought I would sail about a little and see the watery part of the world.

In truth, all great stories begin in precisely this way, and mine is no different. The actual amount of money in my purse notwithstanding, it was a damp, drizzly November in my soul when I fled the world of sense and embarked on a flight to Japan. What I learned there, we may never know. Several months later, I returned, seemingly unchanged. However, historians now agree that this trip, for all its tribulations, proved the point of reversal for my young life, as it ended the consistently downward trajectory that had turned me into such a miserable wretch, and began the upward trajectory that led me to exclaim at one time (and many times thereafter):

BALCKWELL RISING!!

From half a basement to a full basement; from a full basement to the ground floor; from the ground floor to soaring above the living skies; the story of Balckwell is one of upward momentum. But we are not talking merely of material possessions. In that half-basement, I was the prisoner in the cave watching shadows dance on the wall. In the full basement, I was the puppet-man creating the shadows. On the ground floor, I yelled in agony as I was dragged into the light of sun. Now, I bathe in the pure light of the Good.

How did I achieve this? The same way anyone achieves anything: by reading books.

Thus, I share my knowledge with you the only way I know how: by writing about my life. In writing about my life I am also, in sometimes a direct but more often an indirect fashion, writing about books.

CONTACT:

balckwell [at] balckwell.online