Op. 101

Horace Engdahl

Horace Engdahl is back with OP 101, a new collection of the aphorisms, shorter essays and sudden notions that he has made into a genre of his own. This time, the author looks out from the balcony in his new hometown, onto a new existence that has shape-shifted as a new era and zeitgeist has taken over as relentlessly as the spread of an epidemic.

He reflects on the time that has passed, what has happened to him, this thing that transformed the outside world’s perception of him, as well as the man he sees in the mirror. It has robbed him of his gentleness.

But beyond the loss is a new, previously unthinkable happiness that lets his thoughts move freer, be more provocative, feel truer.

In two concluding essays he uses two great musical compositions redefine his relationship to reality. Horace Engdahl’s lyrics are provocative, confessional and personal. The texts move in abrupt shifts between the seemingly banal and the emotional abyss, all written with precision and clarity.