A Serious Delirium

This book is an autobiographical fiction, which is an oxymoron, yes, but nonetheless true. That is to say, the stories in this book are based on my own experience, sometimes exaggerated, sometimes romanticized, even sometimes pure wishful thinking. It is also an historical document, an attempt to describe through impressionistic descriptions what it was like to live through the 60's and 70's in the San Francisco Bay Area during the Age of the Hippies.

This book of stories was written more or less 40 years ago, then stuck in a drawer while I made a living to support my family. It is an autobiographical fiction, which is an oxymoron, yes, but nonetheless true. That is to say, everything in this book is based on my own experience, sometimes exaggerated, sometimes romanticized, even sometimes pure wishful thinking. It is also an historical document, an attempt to describe through impressionistic descriptions what it was like to live through the 60's and 70's in the San Francisco Bay Area during the Age of the Hippies. Finally, and perhaps more importantly for me, this book is an endeavor to try to recapture my state of mind as I lived through a society torn apart by the Vietnam war, the continual American sickness of racism, and the generational divide: a turning point in my life.

Michael Allswang, after obtaining BA and MA degrees from UCLA and the University of Wisconsin at Madison in political science, spent time traveling and doing odd jobs in the San Francisco Bay Area before starting his career as Manager of Documentation Services for software companies in the U.S. and France. He is also an independent writer, translator, and researcher in the fields of ancient civilizations, Egyptology, psychology, and spirituality. He has published various articles on these themes in U.S. and European periodicals and is the translator of Pierre Gordon's The Original Revelation from French into English. He has recently published Symbolism: Modern Thought and Ancient Egypt and an impressionistic memoir, Day One. He now makes his home in Paris and southern France with his wife Catherine.