of folly and vicissitude

"Of Folly and Vicissitude" is a surrealist philosophical novel following Jordan Letendre Junior, an academic who abandons his career after being falsely accused of misconduct. His journey transforms into an existential odyssey spanning Paris, North Africa, and the Middle East, where he assumes the identity of philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau and befriends a mouse named Johnny Boy. The narrative weaves reality, hallucination, and metaphysics as Jordan navigates a world where physics obeys emotion, time condenses into honey, and consciousness transfers between species. Through encounters with gargoyles, Taliban fighters, and various eccentric characters, the novel explores identity, memory, grief, and the boundaries between perception and reality.

"Setting camp was Jordan's way of accepting that today's logic had gone to the circus. He reasoned, if Emotional Thursday expires when the clockhands kiss at midnight, there was no need to chase tomorrow like a rabid theorem. Moreover, watching mathematical constants do the Charleston with their own free will, he wondered if the evening's remaining moments might unlock some cosmic riddles. He perched like a mathematical gargoyle on a heap of rocks facing the fire, sealed his eyelids, and dove headfirst into P vs NP. Perhaps tonight he'd crack it open like a peculiar egg."

COMING SPRING 2025