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Last spring I was quite busy with a project which I didn’t specify. Among other articles, those days I wrote about poetry and ambition. Well, I can now reveal that these two combined to make the Self Versus Self project.

Self Versus Self is the name I’ve given to this latest literary work of mine. It consists of two volumes, one narrative poem (Self Versus) and one novel (Versus Self). Both works essentially narrate the same plot and can be read independently. However, they have been written as complementary to each other.

Self Versus Self: an Experiment about Narratives and Writing

The whole project is very experimental. The very concept of narrative poetry is, I dare say, straight from the nineteenth century. So, in a way I did it because I just wanted to make a point. I don’t know many contemporary works containing 170 pages of rhyming (mostly iambic pentameter) poetry.

On top of that, there’s also the fact that the same plot is given in the form of a novel. But although it’s the same plot, at the same time… it isn’t. I won’t go into details, but let’s say that each of the two forms plays its own role in creating the whole picture.

An additional element underlining the experimental nature of the project is the fact that the novel itself is written in a rather unorthodox manner. It contains various forms of texts, from Instagram hashtags to twitter comments and from news reports to journal entries. It also contains stories within stories, and some experienced readers will surely notice many other details, all related to the writing process itself. Is the work self-referential? You bet.

So, why will Self Versus Self Remain Unpublished?

Well, the answer is right here, in the paragraphs you just read. It’s just too experimental. We live in times where only mass production thrives, and anything different is, if not made fun of, at the very least misunderstood.

And so, since I’m not naive and don’t expect many people to be able to like this project, I decided to keep it unpublished. Still, I have created a limited-edition batch of some thirty copies which I plan to distribute (for free) to various individuals and other audiences. But the project will not be available for sale.

Keep writing. And keep writing for nobody but yourself.

Most of my novels are available as an immediate free download – simply visit the Fiction page on the main site. And remember, you can also just email me and ask for a free, no-strings-attached (e.g. review etc.) digital copy of any of my books.