Raphaelite sappiness. Perhaps this is a danger for anynhterature in which the happy ending is necessary to itsnrituahstic structure.nYet the best of visionary fiction is careful to take accountnof the grand tragic element of our lives, and to absorb it in anlarger scheme of things. Tragedy is no longer perceived asnwe usually perceive it, as the sum of all the terrible thingsnthat happen to us, or as an essential and bottomlessnemptiness of existence. It is a given meaning as a necessarynpart of the harmony of the whole and is one of the fewnelements of daily life that is not transfigured in the OthernWorld. As the raven tells Macdonald’s journeyer, “Why,nMr. Vane, but for the weeping in it, your world wouldnnever have become worth saving.”nAs an acutely conscious literature of the Born Again,nvisionary fiction is constrained to be built upon somenstraitly held set of religious or philosophical beliefs. Still, itnmust avoid any merely sectarian evangelism. It does notnmatter to the overall design what kind of beliefs arenpromulgated, since what is most at stake is a transfigurationnof quotidian secular life. The beliefs are usually Christian,nbut they may be fiercely pagan, as in Graves’s Watch thenNorth Wind Rise, or even Jungian, as in Miguel Serrano’sniMi^n(tr’nThe Visits of the Queen of Sheba. In Hoffman’s story thensubject of faith is poetry. A smug bourgeois Dresden isninvaded by the realm of pure poetry, and the confusednstudent Anselmus is taken captive by it. “Were you not evennnow in Atlantis; and have you not at least a pretty littlencopyhold farm there, as the poetical possession of yourninward sense? And is the blessedness of Anselmus anythingnelse but a living in poesy? Can anything else but poesynreveal itself as the sacred harmony of all beings, as thendeepest secret of nature?”nThis harmony is realized when the two worlds are at lastnrecognized as one and the same. That is a recognition notneasily or cheaply achieved, but the best and most perceptivenof visionary novelists would approve it in much the samenterms as Novalis when he wrote, “Our life is no dream, butnit should and will perhaps become one.”nHere then I sat, watching the heat-shadows from Susan’snCeneral Electric steam iron play upon the refrigerator door.nIt is a scene perfectiy ordinary, boringly domestic, idlyninconsequential—or, to perceive more truly, perfectiynextraordinary, blissfully domestic, and charged with powerfulnconsequence: one of the infinite number of thresholds tonthe Other World.n”Its insights have guided my own thinking and I am proudnto count myself as one of your students.” —RONALD REAGANnECONOMICS IN ONE LESSONnThis book has been the springboardnfrom which millions have come tonunderstand the basic truths aboutneconomics—and the economicnfallacies responsible for inflation,nunemployment, high taxes, andnrecession. Henry Hazlitt is the deannof American free market economists,nand his clear, concise style illuminatesnideas that all generations shouldnknow and appreciate.nNow you can purchase this qualitynpaperback edition for only $6.95.nAdd it to your reference shelf—you’llnlook through it often—or make it anspecial gift for a friend or a student.n”(Hazlitt) is one of the few economists in historynwho could really write. ” —H.L. MENCKENnONLY $6.95 FROM LAISSEZ FAIRE BOOKSnOrder #HH0014n• ORDER TOLL-FREE •n1-800-2302200 EXT 500nContinental U.S. • 24 hours a day • 7 days a weeknMONEY BACK GUARANTEE // for any reasor) you are dissatisfiednwith any book, just return it within 30 days for a refund.nD Please send me copies ofnHenry Hazlltt’s Economics in OnenLesson for only $6.95 each, plus $1.00nfor postage and handling ($2.00 fornforeign orders).nDSend me your 32-page catalognof books on liberty.nD My check or money order is enclosed forn$nD Please bill my D VISA G (MasterCardnAcct. NonExpir. DatenSignaturenNamenAddress_nCitynState’ZipnnnOrder from: LAISSEZ FAIRE BOOKS,nDept. CANn532 Broadway, New York, NY 10012n(212)925-8992nIVIAY1987/21n