Book Overview - Space-Time Continuum

It is almost one year after the publication of my book, Space-Time Continuum (A Study of the Convergence of Physicists, Philosophers and Poets in General and Emily Dickinson in Particular) has been published (by Jaico Publishing House, www.jaicobooks.com. I wish to share my ideas with several people -- the thrill and excitement of getting one's work published. If there is any thing that has occupied my mind for the last thirty years – it is the basic theme of my book. In spite of the various activities that I have indulged in – like the chores of domestic work, bringing up children and of course, teaching at my college, I used to devote some special time of mine to this particular theme that has engrossed my attention. I have studied physicists, philosophers and poets at random, with the single purpose of catching a connecting thread of common terms used by all of them. The end result is my book -- interpreting poetry and extricating inner meanings through technical terms. Now, one year after the publication of my book, it may bring a recognition and realization for the scientific reader, a pleasant surprise for the student of literature and an enchanting experience for a person with spiritual lineaments. The following excerpts from all the six chapters may serve as samples of the predominant thought-content embodied in the book:
Ch I CHANGING TRENDS OF CRITICISM
Criticism is a process of becoming and being, ever-present and eternally elusive, tempting to be trapped here and there for brief moments with instantaneous explosion of inner meanings.
Ch II CONTEMPORARY WORLDVIEW
The twentieth century, on the verge of entering the twenty first one, has many technical and scientific advances to its credit. On top of all, the theories of Relativity and Quantum Field have revolutionized the basic concepts of people and the very perspective of each discipline in the world. Now, every branch of life has something to do with the other; each atom, in its basic structure, reveals a microcosm that is similar to the macrocosm;each individual is not a separate body, but a part of the universe -- in fact, every miniscule point is part and parcel of the whole universe.
Ch III SCIENTISTS, MYSTICS AND POETS-
A CONCORD IN QUEST
An inner vision emerges when the inner and outer realms of human consciousness meet at a single and singular point -- may be a virtual one -- as far as it eludes expression. In science, it is an intellectual perception aided by instruments coming to a sudden, unforeseen and momentous perfection; in mysticism, it is an emotional cessation; in poetry, it is a moment of life catching fire.
Ch IV SPACE-TIME CONTINUUM AND MYSTIC POETS
If space and time measure ordinary things of life, Space-Time Continuum is a measure for the extraordinary findings of the scientists. The same Space-Time Continuum helps to resolve the paradox between the reader and writer, serving as an instrument to bring the two together to a common platform of understanding and enlightenment; it makes them come together at a meeting place, knitting them into a common network of concrete relations again and again as a result of multiple mediations.
Ch V EMILY DICKINSON AND SPACE-TIME CONTINUUM
She[Emily Dickinson] secluded herself from the society, sought divine companionship and in that sole and solemn atmosphere came the outpourings of the soul. The present study is an attemt to understand those soulfull utterances. The poetry of Emilt Dickinson bears evidence to the fact that it can be considered in the light of the findings of Space-Time Continuum.
Ch VI DICKINSONIAN CRITICISM: A PERSPECTIVE
The experience of a human being -- a mortal tearing off the fetters of space and time and sensing the immortal -- is the forte of mystic poets in general; Emily Dickinson is no exception to it and gives scope to the study of her poetry in the light of Space-Time Continuum. As it has already been said, this is a pioneering and preliminary full-length work of this kind. It has got its own hazards as a background has to be slowly built up for the kind of argument that has been ventured into. However heavily one might have drawn from mystics and scientists, the main appraisal has to be literary;...