David Lindsay (novelist)
Encyclopedia
David Lindsay was a Scottish author
now most famous for the philosophical science fiction
novel A Voyage to Arcturus
(1920).
, although growing up he spent much time in Jedburgh
, whence his family originally came. Although he won a scholarship
to university
, he was forced by poverty
to go into business
, and he became an insurance clerk at Lloyd's of London
. He was very successful, but his career was interrupted by service in the First World War
, at the age of forty. He first joined the Grenadier Guards
, then the Royal Army Pay Corps
, where he was promoted to Corporal.
After the war he moved to Cornwall
with his young wife to become a full-time writer. He published A Voyage to Arcturus
in 1920, but it was not a success, selling fewer than six hundred copies. This work was not obviously influenced by anybody, but further reading shows links with other Scottish fantasists (for example, George MacDonald
,whose work Lindsay was familiar with),
and it was in its turn a central influence on C. S. Lewis
's Out of the Silent Planet
. Also, J.R.R. Tolkien said he read the book "with avidity", and praised it as a work of philosophy, religion, and morality.
Lindsay attempted to write a more "commercial" novel with his next work The Haunted Woman (1922), but this was barely more successful than the Voyage. He continued to write novels, including the humorous potboiler
The Adventures of Monsieur de Mailly, but after Devil's Tor in 1932 he found it increasingly difficult to get published, and spent much of his time on his last work The Witch which was unpublished in his lifetime.
He and his wife opened a boarding house in Brighton
, but they did not prosper and their marriage underwent considerable strain. The house was damaged by the first bomb to fall on Brighton in the Second World War
and Lindsay, who was in his bath at the time, never recovered from the shock. His death from an infection resulting from an abscess in his tooth
was unrelated to the bomb.
, and Lindsay's description of its effects is a startling, lyrical episode in a novel which is otherwise concerned with rather ordinary matters.
Lindsay's austere vision of "true reality" seems to have been influenced by Norse mythology
. After being out of print for many decades, Lindsay's work has become increasingly available, and he is now seen as being perhaps the major Scottish fantasist of the 20th century, the missing link between George MacDonald
and more modern writers such as Alasdair Gray
who have also used surrealism
and magic realism
in their work. In 1971, Arcturus was produced as a 35mm feature film by William J. Holloway. It was the first film to be funded by a National Endowment for the Arts grant and has recently been re-released. Harold Bloom
has also taken an interest in Lindsay's life and career, going so far as to publish a novel, The Flight to Lucifer
, which he thought of as a Bloomian misprision
, an homage and deep revision of A Voyage to Arcturus. Bloom, however, has conceded that his late-comer imitation is overwhelmed by Lindsay's great original.
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
now most famous for the philosophical science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
novel A Voyage to Arcturus
A Voyage to Arcturus
A Voyage to Arcturus is a novel by Scottish writer David Lindsay, first published in 1920. It combines fantasy, philosophy, and science fiction in an exploration of the nature of good and evil and their relationship with existence. It has been described by critic and philosopher Colin Wilson as the...
(1920).
Biography
Lindsay was born into a middle-class Scottish Calvinist family who had moved to LondonLondon
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, although growing up he spent much time in Jedburgh
Jedburgh
Jedburgh is a town and former royal burgh in the Scottish Borders and historically in Roxburghshire.-Location:Jedburgh lies on the Jed Water, a tributary of the River Teviot, it is only ten miles from the border with England and is dominated by the substantial ruins of Jedburgh Abbey...
, whence his family originally came. Although he won a scholarship
Scholarship
A scholarship is an award of financial aid for a student to further education. Scholarships are awarded on various criteria usually reflecting the values and purposes of the donor or founder of the award.-Types:...
to university
University
A university is an institution of higher education and research, which grants academic degrees in a variety of subjects. A university is an organisation that provides both undergraduate education and postgraduate education...
, he was forced by poverty
Poverty
Poverty is the lack of a certain amount of material possessions or money. Absolute poverty or destitution is inability to afford basic human needs, which commonly includes clean and fresh water, nutrition, health care, education, clothing and shelter. About 1.7 billion people are estimated to live...
to go into business
Business
A business is an organization engaged in the trade of goods, services, or both to consumers. Businesses are predominant in capitalist economies, where most of them are privately owned and administered to earn profit to increase the wealth of their owners. Businesses may also be not-for-profit...
, and he became an insurance clerk at Lloyd's of London
Lloyd's of London
Lloyd's, also known as Lloyd's of London, is a British insurance and reinsurance market. It serves as a partially mutualised marketplace where multiple financial backers, underwriters, or members, whether individuals or corporations, come together to pool and spread risk...
. He was very successful, but his career was interrupted by service in the First World War
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, at the age of forty. He first joined the Grenadier Guards
Grenadier Guards
The Grenadier Guards is an infantry regiment of the British Army. It is the most senior regiment of the Guards Division and, as such, is the most senior regiment of infantry. It is not, however, the most senior regiment of the Army, this position being attributed to the Life Guards...
, then the Royal Army Pay Corps
Royal Army Pay Corps
The Royal Army Pay Corps was a former corps of the British Army responsible for administering all financial matters. It was amalgamated into the Adjutant General's Corps in 1992....
, where he was promoted to Corporal.
After the war he moved to Cornwall
Cornwall
Cornwall is a unitary authority and ceremonial county of England, within the United Kingdom. It is bordered to the north and west by the Celtic Sea, to the south by the English Channel, and to the east by the county of Devon, over the River Tamar. Cornwall has a population of , and covers an area of...
with his young wife to become a full-time writer. He published A Voyage to Arcturus
A Voyage to Arcturus
A Voyage to Arcturus is a novel by Scottish writer David Lindsay, first published in 1920. It combines fantasy, philosophy, and science fiction in an exploration of the nature of good and evil and their relationship with existence. It has been described by critic and philosopher Colin Wilson as the...
in 1920, but it was not a success, selling fewer than six hundred copies. This work was not obviously influenced by anybody, but further reading shows links with other Scottish fantasists (for example, George MacDonald
George MacDonald
George MacDonald was a Scottish author, poet, and Christian minister.Known particularly for his poignant fairy tales and fantasy novels, George MacDonald inspired many authors, such as W. H. Auden, J. R. R. Tolkien, C. S. Lewis, E. Nesbit and Madeleine L'Engle. It was C.S...
,whose work Lindsay was familiar with),
and it was in its turn a central influence on C. S. Lewis
C. S. Lewis
Clive Staples Lewis , commonly referred to as C. S. Lewis and known to his friends and family as "Jack", was a novelist, academic, medievalist, literary critic, essayist, lay theologian and Christian apologist from Belfast, Ireland...
's Out of the Silent Planet
Out of the Silent Planet
Out of the Silent Planet is the first novel of a science fiction trilogy written by C. S. Lewis, sometimes referred to as the Space Trilogy, Ransom Trilogy or Cosmic Trilogy. The other volumes are Perelandra and That Hideous Strength, and a fragment of a sequel was published posthumously as The...
. Also, J.R.R. Tolkien said he read the book "with avidity", and praised it as a work of philosophy, religion, and morality.
Lindsay attempted to write a more "commercial" novel with his next work The Haunted Woman (1922), but this was barely more successful than the Voyage. He continued to write novels, including the humorous potboiler
Potboiler
Potboiler or pot-boiler is a term used to describe a poor quality novel, play, opera, or film, or other creative work that was created quickly to make money to pay for the creator's daily expenses . Authors who create potboiler novels or screenplays are sometimes called hack writers...
The Adventures of Monsieur de Mailly, but after Devil's Tor in 1932 he found it increasingly difficult to get published, and spent much of his time on his last work The Witch which was unpublished in his lifetime.
He and his wife opened a boarding house in Brighton
Brighton
Brighton is the major part of the city of Brighton and Hove in East Sussex, England on the south coast of Great Britain...
, but they did not prosper and their marriage underwent considerable strain. The house was damaged by the first bomb to fall on Brighton in the Second World War
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
and Lindsay, who was in his bath at the time, never recovered from the shock. His death from an infection resulting from an abscess in his tooth
Tooth abscess
A tooth abscess or root abscess is pus enclosed in the tissues of the jaw bone at the apex of an infected tooth's root. Usually the abscess originates from a bacterial infection that has accumulated in the soft, often dead, pulp of the tooth. This can be caused by untreated tooth decay, cracked...
was unrelated to the bomb.
Work
A Voyage to Arcturus has been described as the major "underground" novel of the 20th century. The secret of Lindsay's apparent originality as a novelist lies in his metaphysical assumptions. Like the gnostics he seems to have viewed the "real" world as an illusion, which must be rejected in order to perceive genuine "truth". In The Haunted Woman, the two main characters discover a room which seems to exist only some of the time; while they are there together, they can see more clearly and express themselves honestly. In The Violet Apple, the fruit of the title is of the species eaten by Adam and EveAdam and Eve
Adam and Eve were, according to the Genesis creation narratives, the first human couple to inhabit Earth, created by YHWH, the God of the ancient Hebrews...
, and Lindsay's description of its effects is a startling, lyrical episode in a novel which is otherwise concerned with rather ordinary matters.
Lindsay's austere vision of "true reality" seems to have been influenced by Norse mythology
Norse mythology
Norse mythology, a subset of Germanic mythology, is the overall term for the myths, legends and beliefs about supernatural beings of Norse pagans. It flourished prior to the Christianization of Scandinavia, during the Early Middle Ages, and passed into Nordic folklore, with some aspects surviving...
. After being out of print for many decades, Lindsay's work has become increasingly available, and he is now seen as being perhaps the major Scottish fantasist of the 20th century, the missing link between George MacDonald
George MacDonald
George MacDonald was a Scottish author, poet, and Christian minister.Known particularly for his poignant fairy tales and fantasy novels, George MacDonald inspired many authors, such as W. H. Auden, J. R. R. Tolkien, C. S. Lewis, E. Nesbit and Madeleine L'Engle. It was C.S...
and more modern writers such as Alasdair Gray
Alasdair Gray
Alasdair Gray is a Scottish writer and artist. His most acclaimed work is his first novel Lanark, published in 1981 and written over a period of almost 30 years...
who have also used surrealism
Surrealism
Surrealism is a cultural movement that began in the early 1920s, and is best known for the visual artworks and writings of the group members....
and magic realism
Magic realism
Magic realism or magical realism is an aesthetic style or genre of fiction in which magical elements blend with the real world. The story explains these magical elements as real occurrences, presented in a straightforward manner that places the "real" and the "fantastic" in the same stream of...
in their work. In 1971, Arcturus was produced as a 35mm feature film by William J. Holloway. It was the first film to be funded by a National Endowment for the Arts grant and has recently been re-released. Harold Bloom
Harold Bloom
Harold Bloom is an American writer and literary critic, and is Sterling Professor of Humanities at Yale University. He is known for his defense of 19th-century Romantic poets, his unique and controversial theories of poetic influence, and his prodigious literary output, particularly for a literary...
has also taken an interest in Lindsay's life and career, going so far as to publish a novel, The Flight to Lucifer
The Flight to Lucifer
The Flight to Lucifer is the only novel by the American literary critic Harold Bloom . Published during 1979, it was composed as a sequel to the David Lindsay novel A Voyage to Arcturus, which supplied the concept of a voyage through space to a distant planet created by a demiurge, and a few other...
, which he thought of as a Bloomian misprision
Misprision
Misprision is a term of English law used to describe certain kinds of offence. Writers on criminal law usually divide misprision into two kinds, negative or positive....
, an homage and deep revision of A Voyage to Arcturus. Bloom, however, has conceded that his late-comer imitation is overwhelmed by Lindsay's great original.
External links
- A Voyage to Arcturus
- "The Violet Apple" - a site dedicated to the life and works of David Lindsay