Professor Woodson states that his “unveiling of the emblematic novel” arose when he attempted to study the novels of Carl Van Vechten, using stylometry (19). Van Vechten had written a […]
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Category: Reviews
Jon Woodson: “The Emblematic Novel” (Part 1)
The Emblematic Novel, Jon Woodson, Wild Pineapple Press, Providence RI, 2023 I have already noted the value of Jon Woodson’s research: http://www.josephazize.com/2024/04/26/review-yuval-taylor-zora-and-langston/ This volume, The Emblematic Novel: Esoteric Realism in […]
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Intentional Transformative Experiences
I have already mentioned the contribution which Steven Sutcliffe and I made to the volume Intentional Transformative Experiences, edited by Sarah Perez, Bastiaan van Rijn, and Jens Schlieter: https://www.josephazize.com/2024/10/06/only-this-will-bring-results/ I will now […]
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“Maurice Nicoll: Forgotten Teacher of the Fourth Way,” Gary Lachman
I am unable to recommend this book. My understanding is that Lachman was invited to write this book by a Swedenborg organisation, but that at some point their relations were […]
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Nyland and the Gurdjieff Exercises
Mr Nyland’s Talks on Gurdjieff: The Draining, Sensing, “I Am,” Unrolling the Film, and Day of Austerity Exercises, Presidio Press, Tucson, Arizona. 338 pp plus index. Available from By the […]
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Review, Yuval Taylor: “Zora and Langston”
Zora Neale Hurston (1891-1960) wrote the striking novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God (1937). I am perhaps even more impressed by her autobiography, Dust Tracks on a Road (1942). She strikes me […]
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“The Plan Is Good: Selected Writings by Annie Lou Staveley, A Student of Gurdjieff”
“The divine plan is the never-ending wish of the Creator for the evolution of being.” (54) With this volume of posthumously collected ideas, we may follow Mrs Staveley as she […]
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R.H. Benson, “The Sentimentalists,” 2
When Fr Yolland first glimpses the shadowy figure of Christopher Dell, the latter is striking a pose, and his mouth and chin “seemed tilted in a kind of tragic appeal.” […]
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Trompf, “On the Origins of the Western Meditation Movement”
A very interesting study of meditation and contemplation in the Christian tradition was published by my colleague Professor Garry W. Trompf, one of the world’s leading scholars of religion. This […]
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“Mysteries of the Jesus Prayer’
Part One In about 2011, HarperCollins published Norris J. Chumley’s Mysteries of the Jesus Prayer. It is not an uninteresting book, as a travelogue, but its value for me lies within […]
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