Wholeness Restored : Love of Symmetry as a Shaping Force in the Writings of Henry James, Kurt Vonnegut, Samuel Butler and Raymond Chandler

This book presents a new and exciting theory of love of symmetry as a shaping force in thought, language and literature. The desire to complement any given order with its own inversion, so as to create symmetry and thereby restore wholeness, is panhuman. Its manifestations can be found during all periods, in all places, and in all societies and individuals, although in varying forms and varying intensity. In the works of Butler, James and Vonnegut the desire is exceptionally strong. Through studying love of symmetry at work as a shaping force in the fiction of these authors we become aware of the extent to which love of symmetry influences human existence generally, and in ways we have not been aware of before.