The Life and Works of David Lindsay

A comprehensive survey of Lindsay's life and work, analysing the thematic patterns of Lindsay's settings, plots and characters.

Bernard Sellin (Author), Kenneth Gunnell (Translated by)

9780521034012, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 15 February 2007

284 pages, 4 b/w illus.
21.6 x 14 x 1.7 cm, 0.378 kg

David Lindsay was a writer of fantasy fiction who died in 1945. He belongs to the tradition of modern fantasy, as distinct from science-fiction, which has its roots in the writings of, amongst others, George Macdonald, and has been maintained in the work of Charles Williams, Mervyn Peake and J. R. R. Tolkien. Lindsay took up a writing career rather late in life, however his name was known within literary circles and two eminent writers expressed their admiration for his work: L. H. Myers and C. S. Lewis. Indeed, Lewis wrote that Lindsay's most famous book, A Voyage to Arcturus, had exerted a strong influence on his own work. Interest in Lindsay has been growing steadily, and in this book, Bernard Sellin has written a comprehensive survey of Lindsay's life and work, analysing the thematic patterns of Lindsay's settings, plots and characters. It will be read with profit by all those who are interested both in Lindsay and in the genre of fantasy literature.

Acknowledgements
Foreword Colin Wilson
Author's preface
Translator's preface
Introduction
1. The life and personality of the author
2. Backgrounds, settings and places
3. The human world
4. The world of Crystalman
5. The sublime world
6. The Violet Apple and The Witch
Conclusion
Notes
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: Literary studies: general [DSB]