Please note:
1. The date in the caption to the right of the picture of Nicholas Hagger in Libya should be 1970, not 1969.
2. The name of Prince Hitachi’s wife is Princess Haneko, not Princess Hinako (caption under picture of Nicholas Hagger with the Prince and Princess).

For a similar online article, ‘Epping Forest: Author draws on forest inspiration for new book’, dated 8.5.2012, in the East London and West Essex Guardian see Epping Forest Guardian

Published by O Books 19 April 2012
ISBN: 978-1-84694-587-8
Price: £13.99/$24/95 Paperback

The Back Cover Says

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.

See an article in the East London and West Essex Guardian, ‘Travelled author’s musings on home’, 10.5.2012, for an interview with Nicholas Hagger and Epping Forest Guardian, online, ‘Epping Forest: Author draws on forest inspiration for new book’, 8.5.2012.

About Putin, oil, Russia and the Middle East

Online interview given by Nicholas Hagger to Yulia Netesova, Special Correspondent of Terra America, a leading Russian independent online publication on the US devoted to the analysis of American social, cultural and political life. Besides the US Terra America also focuses on global and regional trends linked to the US.

Article in Russian:

http://dealetant-68.livejournal.com/59310.html

Николас Хаггер о невмешательстве Путина

А также о большой нефти, США и Ближнем Востоке… 

Николас Хаггер — британский писатель, поэт, историк и философ (www.nicholashagger.co.uk). Его поклонники говорят о нем как о гении, его противники считают его чересчур романтичным, чтобы говорить о политике… 

“По техническим причинам” интервью Хаггера не попало в сетку сайта. Однако оно весьма примечательно. Человек, который “видит фундаментальное единство Вселенной и человека”, довольно прагматичен, когда говорит о нефти и новом мировом порядке. Случайно ли это?
Как Вы считаете, в чем была основная причина присоединения России к антивоенному блоку европейских государств накануне вторжения в Ирак в марте 2003 года? Было ли это решение личным выбором Владимира Путина или согласованной позицией российского внешнеполитического сообщества? Руководствовался ли Путин в первую очередь моральными, правовыми или прагматическими аргументами?

Значительная часть энергетического сектора России была при Ельцине распродана на коммерческой основе премьер-министром Виктором Черномырдиным. Лукойл, который тогда являлся самым крупным нефтяным конгломератом России, а его стоимость оценивалась как минимум в 3,4 миллиарда долларов США, был продан всего за 294 миллиона(Hagger, The Syndicate, O Books, 2004, pp.110-111). Россия присоединилась к антивоенной коалиции в 2003 году, чтобы эта выгодная сделка состоялась. В 1997 году Лукойл подписал контракт на реконструкцию западной части нефтяного месторождения Курна в Ираке на сумму 3,7 миллиардов долларов. Прибыль от этой сделки для Лукойла оценивалась в 20 миллиардов долларов, а российские государственные ведомства должны были получить четверть от 667 миллионов тонн добытой сырой нефти. В феврале 2003 года Саддам Хуссейн отменил сделку, но в декабре 2003 президент Владимир Путин добился ее восстановления (Hagger, The Secret American Dream, Watkins, 2011, p.144), списав половину (65% по данным одних источников и 90% по данным других) государственного долга Ирака России. Очевидно, что Путин лично повлиял на принятие решения о присоединении к европейской антивоенной коалиции. Российский истеблишмент также причастен к принятию этого решения, из расчета получить четверть добытой сырой нефти месторождения. Это решение было обусловлено прагматическими националистическими соображениями.

Многие российские эксперты, в частности Вячеслав Никонов, упрекали российское руководство за то, что оно не решилось присоединиться к антисаддамовской коалиции и не приняла участие в разделе иракской нефти. Насколько, на Ваш взгляд, эта позиция была оправдана? Могла ли Россия получить ощутимую выгоду от присоединения к коалиции? В какой мере это соответствовало бы экономическим интересам России?

Похоже на то, что США поучило выгоду от иракской нефти, хотя это и отрицалось. Ели это действительно так, то ретроспективная оценка того решения будет негативной, так как Россия могла принять участие в разделе иракской нефти (или привлечь займы под гарантии своей доли добычи); Россия  в принципе могла бы получить от этого большую выгоду, чем предполагалось контрактом Лукойла. Следовательно, в экономических интересах России было поддержать США против Саддама. Но надо быть справедливыми к Путину, ведь ситуация выглядела иначе и отнюдь не было очевидно, что США нападут на Ирак и каков будет нынешний исход. Не до конца ясно пока и кто получил выгоду от иракской нефти после 2003.

Можно ли сказать, что именно готовность присоединиться к французскому вето в Совете Безопасности против вторжения в Ирак испортило отношения Путина и России в целом с США, и в первую очередь с республиканской администрацией? Насколько нелояльность России Вашингтону в вопросе Ирака реально обусловила последующее охлаждение в отношениях двух стран?

Решение поддержать французское вето в Совбезе безусловно повредило отношениям между Россией и США, нанеся им очевидный ущерб.

Россия и впоследствии отказывалась поддержать практически любую военную акцию Вашингтона. Насколько дальновидна и рациональна такая позиция?

Отказ России поддержать любого рода военные действия, планируемые Вашингтоном, не был дальновидным решением, и Россия упустила возможность принять участие в будущем разделе иракской нефти (если принять, что США действительно получили выгоду от иракской нефти). Националистическая позиция России с 2003 года привела к  конфликту с США по поводу трубопроводов (Hagger, The Secret American Dream, pp.145-151 for the specific pipelines involved). Менее ярко выраженная националистическая позиция России, а также более интернационалистский подход, ориентированный на международные пулы трубопроводов могут помочь ей получить выгоду от новой договоренности, которая в рамках нового мирового порядка будет включать в себя трубопроводы.

Стоит ли России стать на сторону США в вопросе политического давления на Сирию и Иран для того, чтобы стать одним из созидателей формирующегося Нового мирового порядка?

Россия и Китай потворствовали резне в Сирии, проголосовав против резолюции Совбеза ООН. Они считают, что повстанческое движение в Сирии должно быть подавлено в интересах региональной стабильности. России и Китаю следует поддержать политическое давление США на Сирию и Иран, что позволит Москве стать одним из соавторов нового мирового порядка вместе с США. Россия надеется получить выгоду от иранской нефти и делает ту же самую обусловленную национализмом ошибку, как и в случае с Саддамом в Ираке. История повторяется. В долгосрочных экономических интересах России изменить сою политику и встать на другую сторону. Однако в краткосрочных политических интересах России будет продолжать свою нынешнюю недальновидную политику противостояния Западу ради своей доли иранской нефти.

Какие последствия для ситуации на рынке энергоносителей и для мирового порядка в целом будет иметь возможная военная акция, направленная против Ирана. Изменится ли после этого мировой порядок в сторону более тесного политического сплочения возможных государств-победителей: США, Израиля, арабских монархий, англо-французского блока? Каким может оказаться геостратегическое положение России и Китая после региональной войны в Азии?

Военная акция направленная на уничтожение ядерного потенциала Ирана остановит поставки на рынок энергоносителей нефти из Ирана, вызвав рост цен на нефть. Увеличение поставок из Саудовской Аравии и других стран региона отчасти компенсирует сокращение поставок нефти на рынок и рост цен. Странам-союзникам Запада стоит сплотиться. Если Россия и Китай встанут на сторону США и Европы относительно иранской проблемы, они окажутся в выгодном положении для участия в организации нового мирового порядка, который будет служить интересам всего человечества в целом, а не отдельных элит (Hagger, The World Government, O Books, 2010). Геостратегическое положение России и Китая будет усилено, если они примут участие в формировании такого рода нового мирового порядка. Но важнее всего то, что они таким образом будут действовать в угоду всему человечеству, создавая новый и лучший мир, в котором войне, бедности и болезням не будет места. Я вижу как эта мечта может стать правдой и я готов оказывать им содействие качестве консультанта.

Translation of article into English

(Unedited translation by the Russian end of Terra America)

Nicholas Hagger of non-interference Putin

And also about big oil, the U.S. and the Middle East …

Nicholas Hagger – British writer, poet, historian and philosopher ( www.nicholashagger.co.uk ) . His admirers speak of him as a genius, his opponents say it is too romantic to talk about politics … “For technical reasons,” Hagger interview did not get into the grid site. However, it is quite remarkable. The man who “sees a fundamental unity of the universe and of man” is quite pragmatic when talking about oil and the new world order. Is this accidental?

What do you think, what was the main reason for Russia’s accession to the anti-war bloc of European countries on the eve of the invasion of Iraq in March 2003? Was this decision a personal choice of Vladimir Putin, or the agreed position of the Russian foreign policy community? Guided by whether Putin is primarily moral, legal or pragmatic arguments?
Much of the energy sector in Russia under Yeltsin, was sold on a commercial basis, Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin. Lukoil, which was then the largest oil conglomerate in Russia, and its cost was estimated at least 3.4 billion U.S. dollars, was sold for just 294 million (Hagger, The Syndicate , O Books , 2004, PP .110-111). Russia joined the anti-war coalition in 2003 to make this place a bargain. In 1997, Lukoil signed a contract for the reconstruction of the western Qurna oil field in Iraq of $ 3.7 billion dollars. The profit from this deal for Lukoil was estimated at $ 20 billion, and Russian government agencies should have received a quarter of 667 million tons of crude oil. In February 2003, Saddam Hussein canceled the deal, but in December 2003, President Vladimir Putin has made ​​its recovery ( Hagger , The Secret American Dream , Watkins , 2011, p .144), writing off half (65% according to some sources, and 90% according to others) the state of Iraq’s debt in Russia. It is clear that Putin has personally influenced the decision on accession to the European anti-war coalition. The Russian establishment is also involved in this decision, the rate of a quarter of crude oil deposits. This decision was due to the pragmatic nationalist considerations.

Many Russian experts, in particular, Vyacheslav Nikonov, Russian leaders blamed for the fact that it has not decided to join the anti-Saddam coalition and did not participate in the section of Iraqi oil. How, in your opinion, this position was justified? Could Russia to receive tangible benefits from joining the coalition? To what extent this would be consistent with the economic interests of Russia?

It seems that the United States to teach the benefits of Iraqi oil, although this was denied. We ate really well, the retrospective evaluation of the solutions will be negative, since Russia could take part in a section of Iraqi oil (or raise loans under the guarantee of its share of production), Russia could in principle be obtained from this greater benefit than anticipated contract Lukoil. Consequently, the economic interests of Russia was to support the U.S. against Saddam. But we must be fair to Putin, because the situation was different and was not at all clear that the U.S. attack on Iraq and what is the current outcome. It is not clear yet, and who has profited from Iraqi oil since 2003.

Can I say that it is ready to join the French veto in the Security Council against the invasion of Iraq has spoiled relations between Putin and Russia in general with the U.S., and especially with a Republican administration? As far as Russia disloyalty Washington on Iraq actually led to the subsequent cooling of relations between the two countries?

The decision to support the French veto in the Security Council clearly damaged relations between Russia and the United States, causing obvious damage to them.

Russia and later refused to support virtually any military action in Washington. How far-sighted and rational such a position?

Russia’s refusal to support any kind of military action planned by Washington, was not far-sighted decision, and Russia missed an opportunity to participate in a future section of Iraqi oil (assuming that the U.S. does have the benefit of Iraqi oil). Nationalist position of Russia in 2003 led to conflict with the U.S. over the pipeline ( Hagger , The Secret American Dream , PP .145-151 for the specific Pipelines involved ) . Less pronounced nationalist position of Russia, as well as a more internationalist-oriented approach to international pools of piping may help it benefit from the new arrangement, which is part of a new world order will include pipelines.

Should Russia to side with the U.S. on the issue of political pressure on Syria and Iran to become one of the creators of the emerging new world order?

Russia and China have condoned massacres in Syria, voted against the UN Security Council resolution. They believe that the insurgency in Syria should be suppressed in the interest of regional stability. Russia and China should support U.S. political pressure on Syria and Iran, which will allow Moscow to become one of the sponsors of the new world order, together with the United States. Russia hopes to benefit from Iran’s oil and makes the same error due to nationalism, as is the case with Saddam in Iraq. History repeats itself. In the long-term economic interests of Russia to change the policy and soybeans rise on the other side. However, in the short-term political interests of Russia will continue its current short-sighted policy of confrontation between the West for its share of Iranian oil.
What are the implications for the situation in the energy market and to world order as a whole will have a possible military operation directed against Iran. Will the world order after that toward closer political unity of the possible winners: U.S., Israel and the Arab monarchies, the Anglo-French bloc? What can be geo-strategic position of Russia and China after a regional war in Asia?

The military action aimed at destroying Iran’s nuclear capability will stop placing on the market of energy resources of oil from Iran, calling the rise in oil prices. Increased supplies from Saudi Arabia and other countries in the region is partly offset by a reduction of oil supplies to the market and prices. Countries are allies of the West should come together. If Russia and China stand on the side of the U.S. and Europe on the Iranian problem, they will be well positioned to participate in the organization of a new world order, which will serve the interests of humanity as a whole rather than individual elites (Hagger, The World Government , O Books , , 2010). Geo-strategic position of Russia and China will be enhanced if they take part in the formation of such a new world order. But most importantly, that they will act in such a way to please all of humanity, creating a new and better world in which war, poverty and disease will have no place. I can see how this dream can become true and I am ready to assist them as a consultant.

http://geoffward.suite101.com/towards-a-new-philosophy-of-literature-in-the-21st-century-a404343

Book Review: A New Philosophy of Literature: The Fundamental Theme and Unity of World Literature

7 March 2012

A New Philosophy of Literature – O Books

Poet, philosopher and cultural historian Nicholas Hagger on the universalist literary tradition, from ancients to moderns, and its vision of the infinite.

Western literary culture today certainly leaves much to be desired, skewed as it is mainly to the secular and materialistic, and away from the metaphysical. Here is a book of immense importance for literary studies, bringing to our attention that there is an alternative paradigm available for literature in the third millennium, if writers have the courage and the imagination to take it up.

Nicholas Hagger, in a companion book, The New Philosophy of Universalism: The Infinite and the Law of Order (2009), outlined a new philosophy restating the order of the universe, the oneness of humanity and an infinite reality perceived as light. He called for a new discipline to focus on the universe, nature, science, evolution and the rise of intellectual consciousness, and to seek evidence of a universal order as opposed to randomness.

Now in his monumental A New Philosophy of Literature, he states the fundamental theme of world literature, the main thrust of which is the revelation that the universe is ordered and permeated by an infinite reality which humans can know, and makes the case for a return to literary universalism.

Quest for an Ordering Reality Behind and Within Everyday Life

Hagger shows that this traditional material has been restated in the literature of every culture and age, and that the quest for an ordering reality behind and within everyday life was stronger originally than secular writing which, of course, holds sway today with this level of reality is missing. The new philosophy of literature would synthesise Classicism, Neo-Classicism and Romanticism within universalism and restore the metaphysical.

On his first page, Hagger comes straight to the point that at present we have a materialist literature with merely a personal and social reality, ‘presenting life in an accidental universe of purely physical processes that are devoid of purpose or meaning’.

He admits that his call for a revolution in Western literature is in fact a call back to tradition, and his springboard is the thinking in T S Eliot’s essay, ‘Tradition and the Individual Talent’ (1919), in which poets are urged to cultivate a historical sense and a feeling for ‘the whole of literature of Europe from Homer’, and to be aware that no poet ‘has his complete meaning alone’.

Fundamental Theme Reflected in the Traditional Western Canon

How deeply the fundamental theme of world literature is reflected in the traditional Western canon is immediately apparent, offering a powerful justification for the retention of it – if such justification was ever actually necessary – in the face of what Harold Bloom famously called the ‘School of Resentment’.

One finds it particularly rewarding to read Hagger alongside Professor Bloom’s The Western Canon: The Books and School of the Ages (1994), Mark Roche’s Why Literature Matters in the 21st Century (2004), Margaret Anne Doody’s The True Story of the Novel (1996), Northrop Frye’s Anatomy of Criticism (1957), and Michael Schmidt’s magisterial works on the history of poetry. One finds much that is complementary and mutually sustaining.

Roche, for example, is concerned with literature as a teacher of virtue, and that there should be a return to it as a repository of human values. In a technological, secular age such as ours, he proposes, literature gains in importance precisely to the extent that our sense of intrinsic value is lost.

Literature Alternates Between Secular and Metaphysical Aspects

Hagger argues that, through time, literature has alternated between secular and metaphysical aspects, a quest for reality and immortality, and condemnation of social vices in relation to an implied virtue. Since classical times, the two antithetical threads have occasionally been synthesised by the many universalist writers he examines, from the Graeco-Roman world to the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, to the Baroque, Neo-Classical, Romantic, Victorian and Modernist periods.

Lessons of the past need to be relearned in terms of traditional taste. The greatest poetry, from Chaucer to Eliot, has pointed the way to transcendence which is the goal of the quest for reality under the metaphysical aspect of the fundamental theme of world literature. Poetry is most needed in a time of information overload but, as Hagger regrets, English poetry appears to be in terminal decline.

Geoff Ward British journalist, media consultant, author and lecturer/tutor in literature and creative writing

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

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