New Releases by Douglas Dunn

This dissertation is a phenomenological research study that addresses the effect the aging body has on men at midlife. The data for this research was obtained by interviewing six men between the ages of 48 and 61 years of age. These interviews provide a deeper understanding of the relationship between the psyche and the aging body. We can observe this relationship in the psychological life of the individual. I found that the data from this study produced three levels of meaning. The first level was the concrete change that occurred in the aging body. The second level was the change of psychological attitude experienced by the men interviewed. The third level was an imaginal realm of meaning. Concrete bodily changes symbolize a boundary and a limit for the future of the body, and these limits have an impact on this psychological life. Psychological attitudes influenced by the aging body were limitation, power, spirituality, mortality, relationships, deterioration, and the discovery of different parts of the self. These changes forced the individual into an attitude of greater self-awareness and self-reflection providing an opportunity for the soul to be heard through the symptom. The bodily symptoms associated with midlife are wake-up calls that penetrate to the deepest layers of the psyche. They are the voice of the soul wanting to be heard. When examined in detail, the interviews provided a rich source for an imaginal background of meaning. I found that underneath the struggle these men engaged in at midlife existed a hidden conflict. This conflict was between their unconscious concept of a hero and the reality of their own bodies. As their bodies began to deteriorate, they could no longer identify with the hero archetype. This resulted in an attempt to rebuild the body into a heroic form or a sense of despair over the loss of the heroic image. The heroic myth is one of the most embedded myths of the Western world. Our culture, however, has no myth to support an aging hero. The interviews suggest an adult development and psychic growth that is a nonlinear, acausal process, not a stage-dependent progression toward a final goal. Adult development is not, then, a chronological process, but rather a psychological and spiritual process of discovery. Each man provided a unique, individual process in response to the changes in their body. These stories reflected an individually determined course of development that did not fit into a clearly defined stage.

The stories in Boyfriends and Girlfriends are set mainly in Scotland and show an unprejudiced eye for characters and their foibles at all levels of society. 'A true short-story writer, and one with a range that makes it possible to read the entire collection without wearying of the same voice or the same thoughts . . . The reader is beguiled.' Daily Telegraph

Terza rima, the form which Douglas Dunn calls 'Dante's drum-kit', supplies him with the structure for his own meditation on the afterlife, 'Disenchantments'. Other poems in this book are evidence of the author's dazzling technical adroitness, which is matched, furthermore, by the ambitious range of themes he addresses. High seriousness and high jinks are equally at his command, and readers will welcome a collection which shows the poet of Elegies and Northlight performing with undiminished energy and stylishness.

The author speaks out against the introduction of the Community Charge or Poll Tax into both Scotland and the rest of Britain, arguing that it is not only unfair, but also anachronistic and inefficient. He draws his information from what is currently happening in Scotland.

A model for personal and community advancement demonstrated through the allegory of a fantasy parable. When a successful business person from our world stumbles into an exotic, subterranean civilization, long hidden from the Outside world, he is exposed to new ways of thinking and feeling, but also exposes others to a world of harsh and cruel violence. The Outside world is rich in technological wonders but is plagued by violent terror and social injustice, while the Cave People of Enrisa thrive in an advanced, harmonious social order of cheerful, happy "compassionate joy" that is industrially primitive. When the world is turned inside out, and the cave people of Enrisa come face to face with the Outside world, both cultures are confronted with strange new wonders!

Poems explore the author's relationship with his wife and portray his grief after her death

Europa's Lover is a new long poem celebrating Europe and European culture. In the poem Europa is the mother of Europe, its daughters, wife, sisters, nieces, lover and companion. 'She is also her own mother, daughters, wife, etc,' writes Douglas Dunn. 'If this sounds a lunatic faith in femininity, then so be it. I've seen her in dreams and felt her to be present in places which are sacred to me. What happens in the poem is that Europa invites a young man to join her. He does so; he meditates, makes speeches, and she talks to him. Otherwise the poem is about Things in General. It embodies a certain respect for the values of the West, in spite of its terrors, mistakes, humiliations and decline.'