The Black Lists

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INTRODUCTION TO THE BLACK LISTS

 

I was first alerted to the (onetime) existence of Melanchthon in a rather obscure passage in the work of Nathaniel Hawthorne in which he makes a veiled reference to a certain fellow called ‘Blackened Earth’ whom he describes only as a ‘mysterious traveller’.

I took note of this rather odd name but it quickly passed from my memory. This strange creature was again thrust upon my awareness when Franz Kafka named his name in his JOURNALS (he called him. a ‘heresiarch’). He, also, attributed the following statements to the man: (1) IT IS A TERRIBLE THING TO FIGHT SHADOWS and, (2) THE ORDERING OF EVENTS BELONGS ONLY TO GOD.

It was then that I decided to pursue the matter. My correspondence with Jorge Luis Borges concerning the enigma led to my discovery that prophets are the children of a civilisation in dissolution but little else about Melanchthon excepting the fact that he, once or twice, came upon references to the man but would commit himself to nothing other than that he was referred to in various Saxon myths as ‘The Proclaimer’ and ‘The Mouth of God,’ and that he, also, possessed the attendant ability to ‘…rave in a long, loud & unseemly manner.’

I have not yet ascertained where or even when the man lived (if he did at all), but I have discovered through a long series of chance events a series of prospecti which The Proclaimer drew up concerning his future intentions.

I do not know what to make of these BLACK LISTS (as he seems to have called them), and present them here, for scholars & other folks of learning to make of them what they might.

PJJP

Concord, Massachusetts May 5. 1977

Nota Bene:  The Original Black List of Melanchthon and the eighteen various addenda follow in these pages.

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THE BLACK LIST

The BLACK LIST,
Being a Compilation Of the Books Which the Writer Thinks Should be Edited, Written or Compiled.

1) EX NIHIL NIHIL FIT ¹
2) THE OTHER END OF TIME
3) LIGHTNING IN A CLEAR SKY
4) NEW PARADIGMS, or Modifications Changes and Provisions
5) TO SEE THE SUN IN SQUARES, or The Dead Hour
6) LUX MENTIS, LUX ORBIS ²
7) TO SHOW WHITE FOR BLACK
8) SO GOES THE WORLD
9) EVENTS THAT NEVER HAPPENED
10) SCREAMING TO THE FOUR WINDS
11)  Το όμορφο είναι πάντα αγαπούσε ³

 

¹ From nothing, nothing is made.

² Light of the Mind, Light of the World

³ The Beautiful is Always Loved

 

7.27 (IV) (20:6) #321

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Black List No. 2

Being the First Addendum to the List of Books Melanchthon Planned to, one day, Write, Edit, or Compile.

 

  1. THE END OF MEMORY
  2. THE DEAD HAVE FEW THINGS TO SAY
  3. CHURCH OF SILENCE
  4. LAUDATIO PATRIUM MYSTERII* .
  5. QUESTIONS BOTH TRIVIAL & PROFOUND
  6. LIONS DEVOURING THE SUN
  7. CLOUDS MOVING WITHOUT WIND
  8. I SAID IT THEN, I SAY IT NOW

* To Praise the Fathers of Mystery (Latin)

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BLACK LIST No. 3

Being the Second Addendum to the List of Books Melanchthon Planned to, one day, Write, Edit, or Compile.

 

  1. WORDLESS WONDERS
  2. NEC SCIRE FASS EST OMNIA[1]
  3. THE BOOK OF CREATIVE CHAOS
  4. ABSTRACTIONS, or Ideas vs Critical Mass
  5. WORSHIPPING THE HAMMER
  6. THUNDER OF SILVER
  7. SYSTEMATIC DISORIENTATION
  8. PLANET OF FIRE
  9.  Hand washes hand Greek[2]
  10. DREAMS OF THE LAND
  11. MIND, MEMORY & THINKINGS
  12. DUEL OF EYES
  13. INDEX EXPURGATORIUS, Part II

 

[1] It is not Permissible to Know All Things

[2] Manus manum lavat

 

 

 

7.29 (II) (21:2)

#333

 

 

 

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Black Last No. 5

Being the Fourth Addendum to the List of Books Melanchthon Planned to, one day, Write, Edit, or Compile.

 

  1. Gravity Wells
  2. … Since God was a Child
  3. Quocunque Jeceris Stabit *
  4. THE SPICE ROUTES, or Paths of Least Resistance
  5. And you my son
  6. Existential Data
  7. The Power Curve
  8. Semantic Technicalities
  9. Quid Faciendum?***
  10. PHASE TRANSITIONS, or Here Comes Destiny!
  11. Second Principles

 

*Wherever You Throw It, It Will Stand

**And You, My Son!

***What is to be Done?

 

 

 

7.29 (IV) (21:4)

#335

 

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Black List No. 6

 

Being the Fifth Addendum to the List of Books Melanchthon Planned to, one day, Write, Edit, or Compile.

 

  • GEOMETRIC PROGRESSIONS
  • UTCUMQUE PLACUERIT DEO *
  • ENPOSTULATORY EXPOSITIONS
  • FRATERNITY OF THE DAMNED, or Linked Destinies
  • ՚Eν νυκτὶ βουλὴ τοι̂ς σοφοι̂σι γίγνεται **
  • CLOISTERED IMAGES
  • THE HENCHMAN (An Intimate Memoir)
  • NULLI SECUNDUS ***
  • RECURRING DREAMS & FORGOTTEN NIGHTMARES

 

 

* In Whatever Way It Shall Please God

** In the Night Counsel Comes to the Wise (Menander Sententiae no. 222)

*** Second to None

 

8.19 (I) (21:11) #342

#342

 

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Black List No. 7

Being the is the Sixth Addendum to the List of Books Melanchthon Planned to, one day, Write, Edit, or Compile

 

  1. MEN UNLIKE ANY OTHERS
  2. SMALL BELIEFS & SMALLER CONVICTIONS
  3. REDIGATUR IN  *
  4. THINGS KNOWN ONLY IN DREAMS, or Rendezvous With God
  5. SEMEL ET SIMUL, or Always the Same **
  6. THE THICKNESS OF TIME
  7. Mega Biblion Mega Kakon
  8. THINGS MY FATHER SAID

 

* Let It Be Reduced To Dust!

** Once and All Together, or Always the Same

*** Mega  Biblion Mega Kakon

 

 

8.19 (V) (20:15) #346

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Black List No. 8

Being the is the Seventh Addendum to the List of Books Melanchthon Planned to, one day, Write, Edit, or Compile

  1. SUBTLER YET LONGER LASTING VISIONS.
  2. CENTRIFUGAL FORCES, Book One.
  3. ILLEGITIMI NON CARBORUNDUM*
  4. A MINUTE IN THE LIFE OF GOD (A Computer Problem)
  5. DIMENSIONAL ANALYSES
  6. SEEING BY ONE’S OWN CANDLE
  7. GOD, THE FINGER OF DOOM, & RELATED PHENOMENON
  8. THE DECISION-MAKING PROCESS, or The Longest Night
  9. MORTALITY TALES

 

9.3 (IV) (22!*0 #351

* Don’t let the pretenders grind you to dustJ

 

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Black List No. 9

Being the Eight Addendum To the Compilation Of the Books Which Melanchthon Thinks Should be Edited, Written or Compiled.

 

  1. THE CREATOR OF THE WORLD IS EVIL AND THE WORLD IS, THEREFORE, BAD
  2. DROWNING IN A GLASS
  3.  Earth Air Water*
  4. MAKING THE BIG VOICE, or To Come the Wish
  5. THE ALIEN, THE OTHER, THE UNKNOWN, THE HIDDEN, and Similar Stories

 

* Water, Earth, Wind & Fire

 

 

9.18 (I) (22:9)

#356