Nicholas Hagger

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Summary of Nicholas Hagger's work

Nicholas Hagger, man of letters, thinker and educationalist in the mould of Matthew Arnold and cultural historian in the mould of T. S. Eliot and Robert Graves (and also T. E. Hulme), has mounted a revolution in modern thought and culture.  Known for his Grand Unified Theory of history and his philosophy of Universalism, he is concerned about our higher culture.  His Collected Poems (nearly 900 pages, some double-columned), Overlord, the first poetic epic in the English language since Milton (in over 41,000 lines of blank verse), his Classical Odes, his Collected Verse Plays and his Collected Stories, his 1,001 short stories, all reinforce this concern.

Today we have branches of secular, humanistic cultural diversity and multi-culturalism, but we have lost the sap of the essential European vision that gave Europe its stupendous works of art. Nicholas Hagger’s metaphysical vision unifies all disciplines (including philosophy, history, physics, religion, literature and art) and resupplies this sap.  His historical work shows 25 civilizations passing through 61 similar stages and predicted the fall of Communism and that Britain would be on course to enter a United States of Europe from 1997.  His philosophy has founded Universalism, a new philosophy of the 1990s which is fully stated in The New Philosophy of Universalism.  His literary work reflects our Age in the same way that Donne, Milton and Arnold reflected theirs.  He has used the poem as a meeting-place for perceptions from many disciplines, as can be seen from his Collected Poems.  He has drawn on his vision in his poetic epic Overlord, a work  in the tradition of Homer, Virgil and Milton which he discussed with Ezra Pound in 1970.  It is possible that his newest poetic work, Classical Odes (nearly 800 pages), will prove to be his most comprehensive and enduring attempt to present the complexity of our Age in creative work.

Says Hagger, “I have tried to reflect the Age in my work, its good and evil, overt and hidden aspects.  Just as Donne included the new science and philosophy in his poems, so I have tried to reflect the intellectual, religious and philosophical ferment of our time and the political changes of the age – the rise of America, the decline of Europe, the East-West conflict between democracy and Communism – and their effects on our inner selves as we seek through the rubble of old certainties a new unified vision that offers a new meaning to life.  My ideal human being has journeyed the full length of the Mystic Way, has a unitive vision of the Universe, instinctively understands the Theory of Everything and is filled with spiritual beauty and a deep sense of cosmic purpose.” 

In some respects, Nicholas Hagger recalls Robert Graves, a scholar-poet.  Graves kept apart from coteries and produced Greek Myths and The White Goddess, books of cultural history, as well as being a man of letters.  Nicholas Hagger has kept apart from coteries and produced The Fire and the Stones, The Light of Civilization, The Rise and Fall of Civilizations, The Secret History of the West, The Syndicate and The Secret Founding of America, works that are also fundamental to understanding our culture.

For Nicholas Hagger art transcends the everyday because it is an affirmation of the nobility of man’s destiny and the reality of the existential/spiritual quest.  His works are illumined by a transcendent ideal, and their energy and vast scope reflect (as with the poet John Donne) “an hydroptique, immoderate desire for learning.”  Like Shakespeare or Milton before him, Nicholas Hagger writes about the big issues of the day, and is not afraid to face up to the political taboos of the Age; particularly conspicuous is his interest in the idea of world government, the hidden reality behind the growing illusion of national politics.  He is a deeply responsible writer who stands apart from fashionable literary coteries and who, alone of his contemporaries, has inherited and developed the intellectual tradition of Dante, Michelangelo and Shakespeare.

In our time a Malthusian globalism has sought to reduce the world’s population.  Its policies have led to war, disease and famine.  By contrast, Nicholas Hagger's Universalism focuses on the soul of each human being and his or her right to life.  A Hagger Institute will enshrine this principle in the coming globalist Age which Nicholas Hagger foresaw in his studies of a contemporary world history, metaphysical philosophy and literature, and his humanitarian vision should guide a world government’s policies.

The Essential Hagger will convey the Age through selections from his prose and poetry.

Nicholas Hagger's Innovations

1. History/Cultural History

New Universalist view of world history as indivisible (The Fire and the Stones, The Light of Civilization, The Rise and Fall of Civilizations).

First identification of common inspiration for all civilisations (The Light of Civilization).

New view of 61-stage rising/falling patterns of civilisations (The Fire and the Stones, The Rise and Fall of Civilizations).

New law of history (The Light of Civilization/The Rise and Fall of Civilizations).

First grand unified theory of history and religion (The Light of Civilization/The Rise and Fall of Civilizations).

New view of post-1453 revolutions with four-part revolutionary dynamic (Secret History of the West).

New view of the founding of America (The Secret Founding of America).

First detailed coverage of the attempt to form a world government by 2016 and break the mould of rising/falling civilisations (The Syndicate).

First to use the name "The Syndicate" to denote the network of families and commercial firms that runs the world (The Syndicate).

First to suggest that ancient Persia inspired classical Greek art/Pheidias (The Last Tourist in Iran).

2. Philosophy

First to return Western philosophy to its Presocratic roots (The New Philosophy of Universalism).

New Universalist philosophy of the universe (The Universe and the Light, The New Philosophy of Universalism).

New law of order (The New Philosophy of Universalism).

New metaphysical revolution (The New Philosophy of Universalism).

New revolution in thought and culture (The One and the Many, The New Philosophy of Universalism).

First to predict a new science of photonology and biophotonology (The New Philosophy of Universalism).

3. Literature

New Universalist/neo-Baroque poems (Collected Poems).

First poetic epic in English since Paradise Lost (Overlord).

First four-books-of-odes since the Roman Horace (Classical Odes).

First to contrast and reconcile in depth both insular British Eurosceptical and pro-European views in verse (Classical Odes).

First poet since 19th century to write more poems than Wordsworth or Tennyson (three volumes of poems).

New revival of verse plays (Collected Verse Plays).

New form of miniature stories (Collected Stories).

First to write more than a 1,000 short stories (Collected Stories).

New form of literary travelogue/history (The Last Tourist in Iran).

First mystical autobiography (A Mystic Way).

Universalism in Nicholas Hagger's Work

Nicholas Hagger's work establishes original and alternative approaches in three fields:

1.  It establishes Universalism in philosophy.

2.  It establishes Universalism in history via the patterns of 25 civilisations and focus on the Syndicate.

3.  It establishes Universalism in literature, both in content and method, though this may not be apparent to

     many readers.

Awareness of Nicholas Hagger's Universalist approach will deepen readers' understanding of his work. His works interlock like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle which combine to show a picture. In addition to responding to individual works, the reader may make connections with the complete oeuvre.