ALLEGORY A Child of the ‘Sixties
by D. C. Weiser
May 13, 2020 Rmcx rated it was amazing
May 13, 2020 Rmcx rated it was amazing
This book is like no other autobiography or memoir you’ve ever read before. In a series of life vignettes, sometimes swinging back and forth in time, always rife with exquisite detail and color, Weiser carefully, methodically, unflinchingly, unapologetically, lays bare his soul. And quite a tortured soul it seems to be. But, as you’ll see, that’s not the whole story.
There are shades of Hunter S. Thompson here… a sort of FEAR AND LOATHING IN KANSAS CITY or whatever other realms Weiser is inhabiting at the time, with the accompanying cocaine and alcohol fueled debauchery, acid trips, and all the Sex, Drugs and Rock n Roll you’d expect from a story about the Sixties. Let’s just say this: for a Philosophy major, the guy sure gets laid alot.
ALLEGORY also reminds me, in some ways, of Carlos Castaneda’s work and oddly, of Sartre’s NAUSEA. The physical world, the human scenarios playing out before him, even everyday objects, seem to take on crucial symbolic meaning that only Dennis can see or comprehend. Are they trying to tell him something…warn him perhaps, foretell the future?
Unlike Sartre’s Antoine, however, Dennis is not helplessly mired in existential angst. In fact, he’s a very clever boy indeed, with a razor sharp mind and “the metabolism of a hyena”, forever writing, writing, writing. A deeply flawed, but brilliant author, poet, philosopher and lover of life. A seeker of kindred intellects and, at his core, it turns out, a rather decent fellow.
Will all of that be enough to lead him down the road to salvation? Hop aboard this weird, sometimes deeply sad, often darkly funny cruise through Dennis Weiser’s life and find out. You won’t regret it.
—Robin Michael Cahall, Art Collector, Atlanta, Ga.
