Norman Weeks
Born and raised in Chicago, Norman Weeks studied in Rome, earned his degree in history, then settled in to a Roman residence. With Rome as a base, he traveled in fifteen European countries, including those of the old Soviet bloc. His interest in ancient cultures led him on archaeological itineraries throughout the Mediterranean.
Out of the author’s deep experience of Rome came the trilogy, Roman Ruminations, “The Psychology of the Human as Enculturated Animal”. Its three volumes are: Loneliness, Instinct, and Love. Back in the Americas, Norman Weeks served two years as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Brazil, then ventured into Central America, Mexico, and the Caribbean. A naturalist, he has guided wilderness excursions into the Minnesota-Ontario Boundary Waters. In Asia, he immersed himself in the Buddhist cultures of Thailand, India, and Nepal. Norman Weeks is an autobiographical and experiential writer. An Autobiographical Letter is the straight-through narrative of a half-century of the author’s life, relating the experiences that fed into the writings. Its companion volume, Autobioscenes & Necrographies, extracts and expands some episodes from that life. The first book is the panorama, the second some snapshots. |
Also derived from personal experiences are several books of travel narratives: Nature Norm’s North Woods, excursions into the natural world. Tropical Ecstasy, a nostalgia trip back to Brazil, to the town where the author lived as a Peace Corps Volunteer. Two Weeks in Eternal Egypt, as a member of a tour group exploring the antiquity and sociology of that country.
Matters of Life and Death contains excursions into human psychology.
Throughout his varied writings, Norman Weeks expresses a cosmopolitan appreciation of our world and the wide range of experiences possible in one human life.
Norman Weeks may be reached at: [email protected]
Matters of Life and Death contains excursions into human psychology.
Throughout his varied writings, Norman Weeks expresses a cosmopolitan appreciation of our world and the wide range of experiences possible in one human life.
Norman Weeks may be reached at: [email protected]
Matters of Life...
Cross-Genre
Matters of Life…, the first volume of Matters of Life and Death, presents life-thought-about, life-laughed-at, and life-suffered. The first chapter, “Life Thought About”, considers the human from our roots in organic biology. The essays then proceed from the biological organic to the psychological idiosyncratic to the morally valuative. “Life Laughed At”, the second chapter, presents a series of human life-situations in biographical sequence. First comes birth (or, rather, pre-birth). Then the charms of childhood, painful adolescence, the self and other people, love, sex, and marriage, making a living, experiencing middle age, and some satires of old men, old women, and old couples. If a book is bread, “Life Laughed At” is the leavening of this loaf. “Life Suffered”, the final chapter, combines essays and narratives to treat the tragic of human life. Suffering and infirmity are of the essence of sensate life, as the Buddha recognized. It has been a long itinerary through life-thought-about, life laughed-at, and life-suffered. In the ultimate valuation of Life-Itself and in the readers’ evaluation of their own lives, the author hopes that there may be some sense of fulfilled. That is the farewell blessing. PDF Sample |
Matters of Death
Cross-Genre
Matters of Death, the second volume of Matters of Life and Death, takes on a daunting subject, the realization of the inevitable end of life. “A Prelude in Sentences” previews the theme of the book in a series of aphorisms. “Death Interpreted”, the first chapter, delves into archaeology and history to examine the meaningfulness of human death. The ultimate meaning is not that of the death of the body as a natural process, but the immortality of the soul as pronounced by philosophy and religion. “The Morbidity of Authors”, the next chapter, is a byway on the character traits of the author, case studies of the morbidity and deaths of certain authors, and on to literary immortality in spite of it all. “Incidents of Death”, the final chapter, contains further narratives of tragic situations in the life-and-death of fictional, but very real and human characters. Despite apprehension, Matters of Death concludes with the hope for life-satisfaction and fulfillment. PDF Sample |
Matters of Life and Death (Complete)
Cross-Genre
Matters of Life and Death (Complete) is a compendium of human experience formatted in 200 numbered sections of sequenced topical essays and narratives. Matters of Life…, the first volume of Matters of Life and Death, presents life-thought-about, life-laughed-at, and life-suffered. In the ultimate valuation of life-itself and in the readers’ evaluation of their own lives, the author hopes that there may be some sense of fulfilled. Matters of Death, the second volume, follows a plan parallel to Matters of Life… “Death Interpreted”, the first chapter, delves into archaeology and history to examine the meaningfulness of human death. “The Morbidity of Authors”, the next chapter, is a byway on the character traits and the morbidity and deaths of certain authors. “Incidents of Death”, the final chapter, contains further narratives of tragic situations in the life-and-death of fictional, but very real and human characters. The whole of the work, Matters of Life and Death, is a rich, deep, and broad treatment of aspects of the human. (Matters of Life and Death is available only as an ebook. Its two component volumes, Matters of Life… and Matters of Death, are available as both ebook and paperback.) |
Autobioscenes & Necrographies
Autobiography
Autobioscenes: A word coined by the author to describe episodes from his life. And so, not a full straight-through autobiography, but a series of scenes. Then, necrographies. Biographies are life stories. Necrographies, another word coinage of the author, are death stories of people with whom the author had some acquaintance. Put together, they are Autobioscenes & Necrographies, “Some Personal Experiences of Life and Death”, reported in 65 short narratives arranged in rough chronological sequence. “Norman has had an interesting life,” an acquaintance remarks. A life deeply experienced, assimilated and valuated, and presented here. PDF Sample |
An Autobiographical Letter
Autobiography
How do life experiences feed into the books that an author writes? In An Autobiographical Letter, Norman Weeks recounts the experiential origins of his writings. Looking back over his first fifty years, he presents a comprehensive treatment of his life, especially those aspects that proved source material for what he would eventually write: His upbringing, education, maturation, personal interactions with friends and lovers, adventures and misadventures, travels and travails. A rich life, a rich lode for literary mining. The principal theme of An Autobiographical Letter, a literary biography, is the pursuit of personal vocation. We follow the thought processes of an author-at-work, as he reports on his various literary projects,—their roots, the subjects and their treatment, the difficulties of composition, the relation of form to content, revisions and new versions in the pursuit of perfection. In all, a self-revelation and an exegesis of the author’s works. (Included are a “Self-Portrait of the Author” and even a Post-Autobiographical Postscript.) PDF Sample |
Two Weeks in Eternal Egypt
Non-Fiction, Travel
One of the most fabulous travel destinations on earth has always been Egypt. In former centuries, a trip to Egypt was adventure travel, but in our time it has become group tourism. What would a group tour of Egypt be like? Two Weeks in Eternal Egypt is the narrative of a modern Grand Tour of the country: Setting off from Cairo, proceeding to the Pyramids and Sphinx, Aswan and Abu Simbel, a cruise of the Nile down to Thebes and Luxor, the Valley of the Kings, and on to the Red Sea and up to Alexandria on the Mediterranean. The almost-all of Egypt, presented with enough historical background and cultural context to make sense of the sights. The tour also features extensive social interactions, both with members of the group and with the locals. A travel guide, geography, history, and sociology, Two Weeks in Eternal Egypt is presented in the form of light literary entertainment. This is the experience of Egypt, fabulous still. PDF Sample |
Nature Norm's North Woods
Non-Fiction, Travel, Adventure
The land of wolves, moose, bears, and 10,000 lakes. Nature Norm’s North Woods is an anecdotal natural history of northeastern Minnesota, based upon the author’s forty years’ experience there. Nature Norm first describes the woods-and-waters setting from the vantage point of his cabin on Pelican Lake. He then surveys the wildlife in the area and relates various animal encounters. Next, he conducts hiking and canoeing excursions. He concludes with a consideration of the human impact upon the northwoods environment. In all, Nature Norm promotes appreciation of, and attunement to, our natural environment. PDF Sample |
Tropical Ecstasy
Non-Fiction, Travel
A vagabond always wants to go elsewhere. Why not, now and then, go back? A nostalgia trip, back to Brazil after a quarter-century absence. Tropical Ecstasy is the narrative of a month-long solo adventure of discovery and rediscovery: A cruise of the Amazon, hikes into the jungle, and Manaus, the metropolis amidst raw Nature. Then to the Northeast of Brazil, to Olinda, an old colonial capital, and to the modern state capitals on the Atlantic. The ultimate destination is the town of Penedo, where Norman Weeks had lived. As an ex-Peace Corps Volunteer, the author knows the territory, the language, the culture, and the people. Tropical Ecstasy records fresh daily impressions against a backdrop of deep previous knowledge and experience. The author treats the locals not as caricatures, but with human sympathy. After all, he was, once, one of them. PDF Sample |
Symphony of Stories
Fiction, Short Stories
Symphony of Stories: “Word Music for the Literature Lover” 5-stars review rating from readersfavorite.com! Here are twenty literary melodies in a Symphony of Stories. The word-music of the stories is arranged in the form and framework of a classical symphony. There are four symphonic movements: First comes the Andante, a going-along in a sequence of events, a narrative, a story. Next is an Adagio, the slowing down on the path of sorrow; these stories are tragic. A contrast is provided by the Scherzo, jokes, tales with tongue-in-cheek. The grand finale of the Allegro is the happy ending. The themes of the stories are some of the most basic: Longing for love, finding love, suffering disappointment in love, and losing love. Sex as farce. Ambition and the frustration of ambition. Music, art, literature, and our electronic technoculture. The individual in society. Moral and immoral. Sane, insane, and doubts about which is which. Symphony of Stories. Oh, the wondrous complexities of the human! PDF Sample |
Walden Contemporaneous
Non-Fiction, Literary Criticism, Societal Issues
Walden Contemporaneous: “Thoreau’s Values for Today”. Our United States. Economic powerhouse with the highest general standard of living, leader in technological innovation, purveyor of culture to the world, dominant political and military power. And our American people? Discontented, dysfunctional in the family, economically insecure, cynical, disgusted with politics, and, despite conventional religiosity, suffering a moral and spiritual privation. Living in the country with the best and the most, why aren’t we happy? The problem is one of values. A diagnosis of our ills and a prescription for happiness and fulfillment are at hand, in our own American heritage. A book out of the 1840s and 1850s, Henry David Thoreau’s Walden may have more to offer to the America of today than it did to its own time. In Walden Contemporaneous the values expressed in Walden are applied to our current society and experiential verification of Thoreau’s prescriptions for successful living are presented. Psychology, sociology, culture, economics, politics, religion:--All are subjected to comprehensive evaluation based upon Thoreau’s principles and values. More good sense came out of one man in that little cabin on the shore of Walden Pond than we have received from our glib editorialists and multi-staffed think tanks. Walden is relevant. Walden is contemporaneous. PDF Sample |
Roman Ruminations (Complete)
Non-Fiction, Cultural Studies, Psychology
About Roman Ruminations Roman Ruminations presents “the psychology of the human as enculturated animal.” If the human is a cultural creature, what better setting for consideration could there be than Rome, The Cosmopolis, one place on earth that contains the all of culture? In Rome, you learn by venturing out on itineraries. Roman Ruminations, then, is a walking tour through human psychology in culture. Loneliness is treated within the contexts of literature and music, Instinct the contexts of mythology and classical sculpture, and Love in the contexts of religion, philosophy, education and art. The human mind is revealed by those activities and products of human culture. The Roman Ruminations trilogy is not a quick-and-easy 1-2-3. Roman itineraries seem random and sometimes wayward—are we getting anywhere?—, but just around the next corner there might be the very insight we are seeking. We know that we won’t solve the human or fully understand. Even so, there will be some revelations along our Roman way. Insight is expressed in the “Aha!” of an aphorism. The characteristic Roman craft was mosaic, lots of little pieces put together to make a picture. Roman Ruminations is a literary mosaic, five hundred little pieces from which, for those who stand far back enough, a picture may emerge. Roman Ruminations is a mosaic of the mind. Roman Ruminations Volume One, Loneliness (sections 1-164) Volume Two, Instinct (sections 165-332) Volume Three, Love (sections 333-500) Roman Ruminations (Complete) and each volume separately are all available as Kindle eBooks or paperbacks. PDF Sample |
Loneliness
Non-Fiction, Cultural Studies, Psychology
If you want to find out what loneliness is, go off by yourself; not to pout in that nearby corner, but into a transoceanic expatriation. To Rome, then! Once there, you immerse yourself in culture and the past, you savor loneliness at leisure. Settling in, getting a job, you pursue a vocation. That vocation is writing. As for loneliness, it has nothing to do with writing. Literary solitude is a work discipline, not an affliction of the self. Inspired by an ideal, the writer masters technique, burns with ambition. Meanwhile, life in Rome is tedium and boredom, so loneliness intensifies. As the solution we look to others, only to suffer indifference, rejection, and estrangement. Where can one find happiness and fulfillment? There is always suicide to consider and insomnia to suffer. But the morning of a new day arrives. Our rescue and redemption from loneliness can be found in attunement to Nature, the experience of love, and the transcendent joy of music. (Loneliness is Volume One of Roman Ruminations, “the psychology of the human as enculturated animal”.) PDF Sample |
Instinct
Non-Fiction, Cultural Studies, Psychology
In the National Roman Museum, there is a naked idol, the Sleeping Hermaphrodite, an incarnation in marble of the total biological beauty and complete gender identity of the two sexes fused into one form. Hermaphrodite presents us with a mystery, namely, the sex instinct. Instinct is the dynamic of Life Itself, but things are not well with our animal instinct. We try to control or suppress it, only to fall into such aberrations as celibacy, perversion, pornography, prostitution, and feminism. Worst of all is the fusion of the erotic to cruelty. Our warp of instinct incapacitates us for love and marriage. Both Christian religion and psychoanalysis look upon animal instinct with a hostile eye. What are we but sinners and monkeys? Despite those indictments , we possess an innate natural tendency toward health. Ministering to our need and longing, eros draws us on, to the touch, to intimacy, to human fulfillment. (Instinct is Volume Two of Roman Ruminations, “the psychology of the human as enculturated animal.”) PDF Sample |
Love
Non-Fiction, Cultural Studies, Psychology
The culture of the Mediterranean is an erotic one, from food to art. Even Mediterranean religion and philosophy are erotic. Rome is the supreme shrine of the Christian love-cult. In Rome, we venture upon excursions into the artifacts of Christian history and into the contemporary practices of Christian love devotion. What are morality and sanctity, love style? Whatever our pretensions to culture, we are, deep down, just naked animals, and naked in our needs, one of which is love. Needy, we want romance, we are Romantics. We drift into fantasies and illusions in our desperate search for love. Deprived, frustrated, we suffer longing and jealousy, we inflict cruelty. Haunted by our failures, we may end up with broken hearts. Yet, love has its lighter side, in the misunderstandings between the sexes, odd matches, and jousting for dominance. The author relates his own misadventures in love and finally gets straightened out by a sybil. Still naked in our needs, we want the shared life, acceptance, affirmation, and the bliss of intimacy. Eros, our Mediterranean angel, guides us past sex to love and marriage, with home and family. Our needs are met; we find fulfillment. (Love is Volume Three of Roman Ruminations, ‘the psychology of the human as enculturated animal”.) PDF Sample |