(By Mitch Kahn)

In a day and age when the masses worship the latest and greatest electronic gadget and life’s whirlwind pace presents a totally abstract visual montage, perhaps we’d all be well advised to slow down just a bit and occasionally stop to smell the roses.

Thanks to Naomi Campbell and Gabriela Dellosso, poet, author and twenty-first century renaissance man Pietros (neé Peter) Maneos, currently on a nationwide tour to promote his latest book, found time to include New York City in his travel itinerary so he could share his philosophies on life, literature and art with an eager audience at Salmagundi.

Maneos’ novella, “The Italian Pleasures of Gabriele Paterkallos“, his third published work, is constructed in the epistolary format, or a collection of letters, the genesis of which is his own series of letters exchanged with Roman Payne, a self-exiled American novelist living in Paris.

Whether referencing the poetry of John Keats and Lord Byron or the writings of Jane Austen and Emily Bronte, Maneos points out numerous parallels between his own classically styled writings and the burgeoning resurgence in classic representational art in America, as witnessed by the young artists and work issuing forth from a new crop of classically oriented art academies recently sprouted up throughout New York City and its environs.

“Romantic Aestheticism” is the term Pietros has coined for it. Truth be told, these are philosophies that the Salmagundi Club has remained loyal to throughout its 140 year existence. Maneos is but preaching to the choir and fortunately, this choir is most partial to his song.

Next stop on his tour is Los Angeles.

Pietros Maneos discusses his philosophies on life, literature and art and his latest published work, The Italian Pleasures of Gabriele Paterkallos.