As It Were - Roccasalvo, Joseph

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Résumé :
We say that the style is the man. Style as the soul of wit and wisdom is the person. The aphorism points to this memoir's author, Joseph Roccasalvo: refined, astute and ironic. Readers will envision him moving at a slight angle to family and friends, exuding his intelligence to wide benefit. He is at once scholar and believer. Although the events of his life may enlarge on his attainments, we value him best for his faith and hope. Like his namesake, Joseph, he's accounted a blessing. He avoids being confessional by his cool, robust, somewhat distant stance. If he's a practitioner of perfect prose, he's also practitioner of the perfect pose: linguist, novelist and orientalist; priest and playwright. He alarms us with the library he carries in his brain. He's the recorder of the secrets and longings, not only of his friends, but also of himself. The portraits in AS IT WERE issue a summons: You, dear reader, take note. We are questioning you. Do you claim a soul among the soulless who wander our culture lost? You may yet be found. This is the triumph of Roccasalvo's memoir told with singular purpose. It's a story of divine providence; of grace doled out during infancy which brings all things mysteriously to completion.

Biographie:
Joseph Roccasalvo followed his graduate degrees in philosophy, English literature, and theology by a Harvard PhD in comparative religion with a specialty in Buddhism. He has lived and taught in Boston, Bangkok, Chicago, and New York. For over ten years, he was associate professor at Chicago's Loyola University and Fordham University's Lincoln Center campus and visiting professor at Columbia University in New York and Franklin University in Switzerland. Now engaged in graduate-school mentoring, he is also a fiction writer. He published five novels: Fire in a Windless Place, Chartreuse, Portrait of a Woman, The Odor of Sanctity, and the Devil's Interval. Two novellas, Beyond the Pale and The Powers That Be, appeared as Double Entendre. There followed three books of short stories: Outward Signs, The Mansions of Limbo, and Triple Sec, then a play, Waging Waugh, and a memoir, As It Were. All are available on Amazon, including his rhymed version of Jesus's life, published as Gospel Limerck. He has guided students in journalism and international studies at the New School for Social Research and contributed essays to the newspaper's online column, A Word to the Wise. Recently published on Amazon are three new books: novella, Alina in Ecstasy; a collection of poetry, Poems for Two Violins; and the collected short stories, Twists of Faith.

Sommaire:
Joseph Roccasalvo completed his undergraduate and graduate studies in Classics, Philosophy, English Literature and Theology from Bellarmine College, Fordham University, and Woodstock College. In addition to these educational merits, he then earned his Harvard Ph.D. in Comparative Religion with a specialty in Buddhism. He studied Asian languages and religion and was trained as a comparative research scholar in global cultures, East and West. Joseph has received accolades for his publications and mentoring. In 2022, the International Association of Top Professionals (IAOTP) named him the Top Fictional Writer of the Year. He is the recipient of honors from Bristol Who's Who and is a member of the Catholic Writers Guild. He remains an active standing member of Harvard's Center for the Study of World Religions....