J. W. N. Sullivan

Beethoven - His Spiritual Development

J. W. N. Sullivan

First published in 1927, J. W. N. Sullivan's “Beethoven – His Spiritual Development” explores the subject of Beethoven's spirituality, which the author believes he expressed through his greatest musical compositions. Contents include: “Art and Reality”, “Music as Isolated”, “Music as Expression”, “Beethoven’s Characteristics”, “The Morality of Power”, “The Mind of Beethoven”, “The Hero”, “The End of a Period”, “Love and Money”, “The Hammerclavier Sonata”, “God the Companion”, etc. A fascinating study of Beethoven's work not to be missed by fans of classical music. John William Navin Sullivan (1886–1937) was a popular literary journalist and science writer who wrote some of the first accounts of Albert Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity for the laymen. Sullivan was acquainted with a number of important writers in 1920s London including T. S. Eliot, Aldous Huxley, and Aleister Crowley. Read & Co. Books is republishing this classic work now in a new edition complete with a specially-commissioned new biography of the author.

Contemporary Mind - Some Modern Answers

J. W. N. Sullivan

“Contemporary Mind – Some Modern Answers” is a fantastic collection of essays by English science writer John W. Sullivan. They deal with a range of subjects, ranging from mysticism and immortality to the relationship between science and art. John William Navin Sullivan (1886 – 1937) was a literary journalist and popular science writer most famous for his study of Beethoven. He is also responsible for having written some of the earliest non-technical accounts of Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity, and he was acquainted with many important writers in London in the 1920s, including John Middleton Murry, Aldous Huxley, Wyndham Lewis, Aleister Crowley and T. S. Eliot. Other notable works by this author include “Aspects of Science” (1923), “Aspects of Science: Second Series” (1926), and An Outline of Modern Knowledge (1931). Contents include: “The Balanced Life”, “The Problem of Suffering”, “The Necessity of Mysticism”, “Human Immortality”, “A Dissertation on Beethoven”, “The Scientific Outlook”, “A Dissertation on Maxwell”, “New Principles”, “A Dissertation on Newton”, “Science and Art”, “Mathematics and Culture”, “Sir Josiah Stamp”, “Mr. Aldous Huxley”, etc. Many vintage books such as this are increasingly scarce and expensive. It is with this in mind that we are republishing this volume now in an affordable, modern, high-quality edition complete with the original text and artwork.