Amanda Hall

Adherence to the truth, as it may be gleaned by fallible human beings, and stylized perceptions as they may be perceived, by vulnerable and sensitive beings, and loveliness as it may be fashioned and presented, by mortal creatures with a tendency to err-these are the essences of Beauty in Art . . . . ON THE NATURE OF BEAUTIFUL ART: LITERATURE FOR LIFE A paean to Romanticism, Poeticism and Aestheticism, in a Manifesto on the Nature of Art, its place in the world, and on the cultivation of a viable Life of Letters in a Culture of Beauty.

In the second of ten Classical Dialogues, Compassion and Cruelty hover over two women with very different views about nutrition. Whispering cues in envelope-rhymed and blank verse, the Virtue and Vice prompt resolution of the issue: should a mother use harsh demands to get her theatrical daughter to lose weight, under pressure from other stage mothers? A Chorus of Graces poses the Question and Judgment, in Strophe, Antistrophe and Epode.

In the first of ten Classical Dialogues, Justice and Injustice play Angel and Devil of envelope-rhymed and blank verse, perched upon an author's shoulders, whispering incentives into her ear. Should an inferior writer tweak someone else's manuscript just enough to avoid accusation of plagiarism? A Chorus of Furies poses the Question and Judgment, in Strophe, Antistrophe and Epode.

A collection of quips, jottings, tidbits, criticisms and witticisms from the diary of an Aesthete who believes that the Pen is mightier than the Sword, and that the bon mot must be used to vanquish folly.

An artist with the face of a fragmented Picasso strives for transcendent aestheticism, in sculpture defiant of his birth defect. A lady horticulturist continues to beautify her orchards, in spite of the environmentalist propaganda harming her enterprise. A postmodern scholar comes between these two potential soul-mates, operating under the conviction that Beauty is a myth, and that Western Bounty is an enemy to all. This fiction is preceded by my critical essay, " 'Ugliness' for The Beautiful: Resurrecting the Romantic Monsters of Stoker, Shelley, Hugo, Leroux, Rostand and Poe to Defeat Jason, Chucky and Freddy."

A collection of twelve short stories from the Salon des Refuses, including a foreword about the current editorial policies demonstrating the follies satirized in the fiction.

A Cherub sent to Earth to earn her wings, Joyce learned to sing of pure Seraphic things; She satirized the Seven Vices men Had served, in helpless bondage to the yen. With aid of Saint Cecilia and her choir, Joyce lifted human beings from the mire. None thought a blog would serve as Heaven's tool, But that is where Angelic Creatures rule. The Cherub taught the people how to laugh At evil, with precise celestial staff. And after deft destruction of The Bad, The Seraph Joyce returned to Heaven, glad.