Radio interview by Nicholas Hagger on BBC Radio 5 live Drive on Friday 17 February 2012 at 6.45 p.m. on “a year after the beginning of the Libyan revolution against Gaddafi” with Aasmah Mir

Radio 5 Live 17.2.2012

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0070lvr

To be published by O Books 25 May 2012

ISBN: 978-1-84694-587-8
A View of Epping Forest

Epping Forest was given to the public in 1878. It has many historical and literary associations involving, for example, Harold II, Henry VIII, Elizabeth I, Shakespeare, Tennyson, Clare and Churchill.
Nicholas Hagger came to Epping Forest during the war. As a boy he knew Sir William Addison, long recognised as an authority on the Forest, and saw Churchill speak in his village in 1945. He grew up against the background of the Forest and visited it regularly when he was living elsewhere. He returned and became the proprietor of three private schools in the area, founding his own school in 1989. The Forest has come into many of his poems and other works.

In Part One of this book he conveys the history of Epping Forest in the times of the Celts and Romans, Anglo-Saxons and Normans, Medievals and Tudors, and enclosers and loppers. In Part Two he shows how history has shaped the Forest places he grew up with: Loughton, Chigwell, Woodford, Buckhurst Hill, Waltham Abbey, High Beach, Upshire, Epping, the Theydons and Chingford Plain. An Appendix contains some of his poems about these places. His blending of history, recollection and poetic reflection presents a rounded view of the Forest.

Using a technique of objective narrative he developed in other works and drawing on personal experience to give the flavour of a personal memoir, he evokes the spirit of the Forest through its best-loved places and wildlife, and brings the Forest alive through his historical perspective, evocation of Nature and vivid writing.

Nicholas Hagger’s Collected Poems, Classical Odes and his two poetic epics, Overlord and Armageddon, are also published by O Books.

The Back Cover Says

In The New Philosophy of Universalism Nicholas Hagger outlined a new philosophy that restates the order within the universe, the oneness of humankind and an infinite Reality perceived as Light; and its applications in many  disciplines, including literature. In this work of literary Universalism which carries forward the thinking in T.S. Eliot’s ‘Tradition and the Individual Talent’ and other essays, Hagger traces the fundamental theme of world literature, which has alternating metaphysical and secular aspects: a quest for Reality and immortality; and condemnation of social vices in relation to an implied virtue. Since classical times these two antithetical traditions have periodically been synthesised by Universalists. Hagger sets out the world Universalist literary tradition: the writers who from ancient times have based their work on the fundamental Universalist theme. These can be found in the Graeco-Roman world, the Middle Ages and Renaissance, in the Baroque Age, in the Neoclassical, Romantic, Victorian and Modernist periods, and in the modern time.

NICHOLAS HAGGER is a poet, man of letters, cultural historian and philosopher. He has lectured in English Literature at universities in Baghdad, Tripoli (Libya) and Japan (where he was a Professor), and is the author of more than 30 books. These include a substantial literary output of nearly 1,500 poems, over 300 classical odes, two poetic epics, five verse plays and a thousand stories, travelogues and innovatory works in literature, history and philosophy.

Volume 4, Books 10-12
ISBN 1862040176
Price: £15.99/$24.99 (Can $33.99)
Hardback

The fall of Berlin and the death of Hitler, the Nazi surrender and the birth of the Atomic Age at Hiroshima.

The Front Flap Says

Contained within three volumes the first nine books of Overlord tell the story of Eisenhower’s advance towards Hitler through D-Day, the plot against Hitler’s life, Falaise, Arnhem, the Holocaust, the Ardennes campaign, the Yalta conference, the crossing of the Rhine and Hitler’s defence of Berlin. Books 10-12 present the fall of Berlin (a contemporary Troy) and death of Hitler, the Nazi surrender and the birth of the atomic age at Hiroshima. At another level, Hell falls to Heaven’s invasion, and Satan, the power behind Hitler, now cut down to size, goes into exile and foments the Cold War with his new ally, Stalin. With the defeat of Hitler, the Antichrist, Armageddon is over, and Eisenhower is given a vision of Paradise and the coming Millennium, the Cosmic Christ’s Thousand-Year Reign on earth and benevolent world government which triumphs over Satan’s plans for a new world order.

Conceived in 1969, discussed with Ezra Pound in 1970 and begun in 1994, Overlord is the first 12-book poetic epic in the English language since Milton’s Paradise Lost, and as in the case of Milton’s classic it had a 25-year gestation. Like Virgil’s Aeneid, which celebrated Augustus’ new order, its underlying theme is the yearning for universal peace which can be found in contemporary attempts to create a world government to coincide with the new millennium. Nicholas Hagger’s Universalist epic reaches a triumphant conclusion with Eisenhower’s defeat of Hitler and the Cosmic Christ’s victory over the Cosmic Satan, and a vision of the divine order behind the universe reconciles the Tolstoyan conflict between war and peace and Michelangelesque contrast between Heaven and Hell. In Hagger’s classical unitive vision, harmony and balance are restored between the eternally conflicting forces of Light and Darkness, with Light just predominating.

Combining imagination, spiritual vision, a penetrating understanding of history and a metaphysical eye that draws on the new science and philosophy, Nicholas Hagger has created an impressive work that towers above the contemporary European literary scene like a mountain half-hidden in cloud over a flat landscape.

Front cover for later edition

Volume 3, Books 7-9
ISBN 1862040168
Price: £15.99/$24.95 (Can $33.99)
Hardback

The Yalta conference, the crossing of the Rhine and the squabbling during Hitler’s defence of Berlin.

The Front Flap Says

Following on from books 1-2 and 3-6, which tell the story of Eisenhower’s advance towards Hitler through D-Day, the plot against Hitler’s life, Falaise, Arnhem, the Holocaust and the Ardennes campaign, books 7-9 feature the Yalta conference, the crossing of the Rhine and the squabbling during Hitler’s defence of Berlin. At another level Eisenhower visits Hell, and the forces of Heaven under the Cosmic Christ repulse an invasion by Hell’s forces led by the Cosmic Satan, and counter-invade. In both the lower and higher worlds, the forces of Light have begun to triumph over the forces of Darkness during the long battle of Armageddon.

Written in the tradition of Homer’s Iliad, Virgil’s Aeneid and Milton’s Paradise Lost, Nicholas Hagger’s Universalist epic draws on the hidden history of the 20th century to tell the truth about World War II. The conflicts between Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill, Eisenhower and Montgomery, and Hitler and his generals are handled with a Homeric mastery that moves easily between formal diplomacy and bitter antagonism. As the powerful forces who influenced the outcome of Yalta are still operating in our own time and seek to mark the millennium by creating a world government, Overlord makes sense of the 20th century and gives a new understanding of the present. Nicholas Hagger’s writing unifies many poetic traditions: in Elizabethan style he finds hi theme in historical events, and takes his structure from classical epic and Milton. While reconciling classical balance with the Modernists’ concern with civilization he reveals a divine universe in which Light and Darkness are in perpetual conflict (but underlying harmony) and the forces of Light have to retain their upper hand on earth.

Front cover for later edition

Volume 2, Books 3-6
ISBN 1852307870
Price: £24.99/$39.95 (Can $49.99)
Hardback

The last year of World War Two, featuring Falaise, the failure at Arnhem, the Holocaust and the Ardennes campaign (or Battle of the Bulge). More were killed in the final year of the War than in all the previous years.

The Front Flap Says

Following on from books 1 and 2 which present D-Day and the plot against Hitler’s life, books 3-6 cover the last year of World War II and feature Falaise, Arnhem, the Holocaust and the Ardennes campaign (or Battle of the Bulge). They record the struggle between Eisenhower’s forces to defeat Hitler and, at another level, the Cosmic Christ’s struggle with Lucifer.

Written in the tradition of Homer’s Iliad, Virgil’s Aeneid and Milton’s Paradise Lost, Nicholas Hagger’s Universalist 12-book epic poem about the most significant event of the 20th century reflects the conflict between the forces of Light and order which seek to restore peace, and the forces of Darkness and devastation which lay behind the evil of Auschwitz. In the course of treating this hugely important, Tolstoyan metaphysical theme in a work that recalls Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel ceiling, Nicholas Hagger reveals the laws that govern history and the ordering of the universe.

Front covers for later editions

Volume 1, Books 1-2
ISBN 1852306491
Price: £12.99/$19.95 (Can $26.99)
Hardback

From D-Day to the bomb plot to kill Hitler and its aftermath.

The Front Flap Says

Written in blank verse with a panoramic visionary sweep that embraces higher and lower worlds within his Universalist scheme, Overlord is a contemporary epic poem in the tradition of Homer’s Iliad, Virgil’s Aeneid and Milton’s Paradise Lost. Continuing the mystical vision of Dante’s Divine Comedy and the concern for civilisation of Pound’s Cantos, the poem focuses on the last year of the Second World War viewed from the higher world by its conflicting leaders, the Universalist Cosmic Christ and Cosmic Stan.

Hagger’s cosmos is one of two conflicting forces, an expanding Fire which is behind the creation and expansion of the universe, and a contradicting force of Darkness, destruction and gravity, of Dark Matter and black holes. These opposites, which recall yang and yin, are held in balance by a transcendent and immanent God, a universal energy of Fire or Light, and it is under these divine powers that General Eisenhower, Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force, Hagger’s Aeneas-like hero and homme moyen sensuel, defeats Hitler and dreams of a new world order of universal peace and world government.

This epic poem will comprise 12 books. In this volume, books 1 and 2 take the story from D-Day to the July 20th plot against Hitler’s life and reveal the essential laws of the universe.

Front covers for later editions

The Back Cover Says

In The New Philosophy of Universalism Nicholas Hagger outlined a new philosophy that restates the order within the universe, the oneness of humankind and an infinite Reality perceived as Light; and its applications in many  disciplines, including literature. In this work of literary Universalism which carries forward the thinking in T.S. Eliot’s ‘Tradition and the Individual Talent’ and other essays, Hagger traces the fundamental theme of world
literature, which has alternating metaphysical and secular aspects: a quest for Reality and immortality; and condemnation of social vices in relation to an implied virtue. Since classical times these two antithetical traditions have periodically been synthesised by Universalists. Hagger sets out the world Universalist literary tradition: the writers who from ancient times have based their work on the fundamental Universalist theme. These can be found in the Graeco-Roman world, the Middle Ages and Renaissance, in the Baroque Age, in the Neoclassical, Romantic, Victorian and Modernist periods, and in the modern time.

NICHOLAS HAGGER is a poet, man of letters, cultural historian and philosopher. He has lectured in English Literature at universities in Baghdad, Tripoli (Libya) and Japan (where he was a Professor), and is the author of more than 30 books. These include a substantial literary output of nearly 1,500 poems, over 300 classical odes, two poetic epics, five verse plays and a thousand stories, travelogues and innovatory works in literature, history and philosophy.

Publisher’s Outline

Author of The Rise and Fall of Civilizations, Nicholas Hagger examines the alternatives, including global governance, and offers an ideal model, structure and vision for a supranational body of administrators and enforcers supported by experts in international law, and an elected Senate and lower house based on the General Assembly of the United Nations. Together they would operate as a higher tier of government than existing bodies, including nation-states and the UN. He explains how this tier could come into being.

This is an accessible and innovative work of modern statecraft that offers a blueprint for a democratic world state with legal authority to end wars, famines, disease and poverty while allowing civilizations to continue their development with local, regional autonomy. Motivated by philanthropic and humanitarian considerations, Nicholas Hagger is concerned to set precise and realistic goals to maximise the world state’s effectiveness and to criminalise the plundering of resources by behind-the-scenes organisations run by self-interested élites. A challenging philosophical vision of a better future for all in the tradition of Plato’s Republic and Kant’s Perpetual Peace.

The Back Cover Says

In The New Philosophy of Universalism Nicholas Hagger outlined a new philosophy that focuses on the oneness of the universe and humankind, and its applications for many disciplines, including international relations.

In this work of political Universalism Nicholas Hagger presents the long-yearned-for human dream of world government. In the hands of conquerors or self-interested élites concerned to loot the Earth’s resources to enrich themselves, this could be disastrous. But in the hands of a philanthropic body of experts and elected representatives this could benefit humankind by legislating to abolish war, famine, disease and poverty. A challenging philosophical vision of a better future in the tradition of Plato and Kant, this is required reading for all interested in improving the structures of global governance.

Publisher’s Outline

This book is Nicholas Hagger’s main work of philosophy. It develops the thinking in his earlier philosophical works into a comprehensive philosophy of the universe.

It describes the world/universe in terms of One Reality, in terms of which every element of our experience can be interpreted. (Whitehead said that the metaphysical philosopher endeavours to “frame a coherent, logical, necessary system of general ideas in terms of every element of our experience can be interpreted”.)

The book reconnects philosophy with the universe/Nature and will present the philosophy of Universalism as arising from the orderly universe of cosmology, physics, biology and metaphysical philosophy. Universalist thinking has applications in the environmental movement, political world government, religion, history and culture.

The book restates, and redefines, the metaphysical principle in our time as an experienceable ordering reality and as a system of ideas. It states the philosophy of Universalism in an accessible form. It is a book for the general reader and seeks to integrate all the disciplines – history, philosophy, religion, literature, science and the study of consciousness – into a single vision.

This book gives a comprehensive and complete statement of  Nicholas Hagger’s philosophy of Universalism.

The Back Cover Says

The New Philosophy of Universalism challenges the Dawkins-neoDarwinist view of a random universe in favour of an ordered bio-friendly one.

At the origin of Western civilization, philosophy reflected the One universe and man’s position in it. In the 20th century, philosophy preferred to focus on logic and language and has become increasingly irrelevant. Universalism takes philosophy back to its original aim: focus on the universe – the universe known to contemporary cosmologists, astrophysicists, physicists, biologists and geologists, who identify systems of order as well as randomness. A systematic philosophy o the expanding universe, Nature and man, Universalism identifies a Law of Order that counterbalances a Law of Randomness and offers a new philosophy that has global applications. Excitingly, it reconnects philosophy to Nature and the thinking of the pre-Socratic Greeks and reunifies the universe and the scientific disciplines so philosophy can once again consider the whole of reality.

Comments

“The scope of Hagger’s book is immense. Universalism is a call to a philosopher to abandon the specialisms (in particular logic and language) and to attempt, once again, the kind of Grand Unified Theory of Everything that has marked the discipline from the beginning. Universalism has the potentiality to be as potent a movement in the 21st century as Existentialism was in the post-war world….Universalism is the most important movement in thought and art since Existentialism.”

Christopher Macann
Philosopher and lecturer in philosophy at the University of Bordeaux

“This is one of the most important philosophical books to appear since Whitehead’s Process and Reality eighty years ago.”

David Lorimer