David Lindsay (3 March 1876 – 16 July 1945) was a Scottish author best remembered for the philosophical science fiction novel ''

A Voyage to Arcturus ''A Voyage to Arcturus'' is a novel by the Scottish writer David Lindsay, first published in 1920. An interstellar voyage is the framework for a narrative of a journey through fantastic landscapes. The story is set at Tormance, an imaginary pl ...

'' (1920).

Biography

Lindsay was born into a middle-class Scottish

Calvinist Calvinism (also called the Reformed Tradition, Reformed Protestantism, Reformed Christianity, or simply Reformed) is a major branch of Protestantism that follows the theological tradition and forms of Christian practice set down by John C ...

family in London, and was brought up partly in

Jedburgh Jedburgh (; gd, Deadard; sco, Jeddart or ) is a town and former royal burgh in the Scottish Borders and the traditional county town of the historic county of Roxburghshire, the name of which was randomly chosen for Operation Jedburgh in ...

, where he had family background. He was educated at

Colfe's School Colfe's School, previously Colfe's Grammar School is a co-educational independent day school in Lee in the London Borough of Lewisham, in southeast London, England, and one of the oldest schools in London. The school is a member of the Headmaste ...

, Lewisham, and won a scholarship to university, but for financial reasons went into business, becoming an insurance clerk at

Lloyd's of London Lloyd's of London, generally known simply as Lloyd's, is an insurance and reinsurance market located in London, England. Unlike most of its competitors in the industry, it is not an insurance company; rather, Lloyd's is a corporate body gove ...

."David Lindsay" by

Gary K. Wolfe Gary K. Wolfe (born Gary Kent Wolfe in 1946) is an American science fiction editor, critic and biographer. He is an emeritus Professor of Humanities in Roosevelt University's Evelyn T. Stone College of Professional Studies. Life Wolfe was bo ...

, in

E. F. Bleiler Everett Franklin Bleiler (April 30, 1920 – June 13, 2010) was an American editor, bibliographer, and scholar of science fiction, detective fiction, and fantasy literature. In the late 1940s and early 1950s, he co-edited the first "year's best" s ...

, ed. ''Supernatural Fiction Writers:Fantasy and Horror''. New York: Scribner's, 1985. pp.541–548. He was successful, but his career was interrupted by service in the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

, starting at the age of 40. He first joined the

Grenadier Guards "Shamed be whoever thinks ill of it." , colors = , colors_label = , march = Slow: " Scipio" , mascot = , equipment = , equipment ...

, then the

Royal Army Pay Corps The Royal Army Pay Corps (RAPC) was the corps of the British Army responsible for administering all financial matters. It was amalgamated into the Adjutant General's Corps in 1992. History The first "paymasters" have existed in the army before t ...

, in which he was promoted to Corporal. After the war Lindsay and his young wife, Jacqueline Silver, moved to Porth near Newquay in

Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a Historic counties of England, historic county and Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people ...

, and lived there from 1919 to 1929. He became a full-time writer there. His novel ''

'' was published in 1920, but it was not a success, selling fewer than six hundred copies. The work shows links with Scottish fantasists such as

George MacDonald George MacDonald (10 December 1824 – 18 September 1905) was a Scottish author, poet and Christian Congregational minister. He was a pioneering figure in the field of modern fantasy literature and the mentor of fellow writer Lewis Carroll ...

, whose work Lindsay was familiar with, and it had a central influence on

C. S. Lewis Clive Staples Lewis (29 November 1898 – 22 November 1963) was a British writer and Anglican lay theologian. He held academic positions in English literature at both Oxford University (Magdalen College, 1925–1954) and Cambridge Univer ...

's ''

Out of the Silent Planet ''Out of the Silent Planet'' is a science fiction novel by the British author C. S. Lewis, first published in 1938 by John Lane, The Bodley Head. Two sequels were published in 1943 and 1945, completing the '' Space Trilogy''. Plot While on ...

''. J. R. R. Tolkien said that he had read the book "with avidity", and characterised it as a work of philosophy, religion and morality. Lindsay attempted to write a more commercial novel with his next work ''

The Haunted Woman ''The Haunted Woman'' is a dark, metaphysical fantasy novel by British writer David Lindsay. It was first published, somewhat cut, as a serial in '' The Daily News'' in 1921. It was first published in book form by Methuen & Co. Ltd., London, i ...

'' (1922), but this was barely more successful than ''Voyage''. He continued to write novels, including the humorous

potboiler A potboiler or pot-boiler is a novel, Play (theatre), play, opera, film, or other creative work of dubious literary or artistic merit, whose main purpose was to pay for the creator's daily expenses—thus the imagery of "boil the pot", which means ...

''The Adventures of Monsieur de Mailly'', set in France in the time of

Louis XIV Louis XIV (Louis Dieudonné; 5 September 16381 September 1715), also known as Louis the Great () or the Sun King (), was List of French monarchs, King of France from 14 May 1643 until his death in 1715. His reign of 72 years and 110 days is the Li ...

. After publishing ''Devil's Tor'' in 1932 he found it increasingly difficult to get his work issued and spent much of his time on his last work, ''The Witch'', which was not published in his lifetime. With his wife, Lindsay opened a boarding house in

Brighton Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...

, but they did not prosper and their marriage came under considerable strain. The house was damaged by the first bomb to fall on Brighton in the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

, 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;

Darrell Schweitzer Darrell Charles Schweitzer (born August 27, 1952) is an American writer, editor, and critic in the field of speculative fiction. Much of his focus has been on dark fantasy and horror fiction, horror, although he does also work in science fictio ...

attributed it to Lindsay allowing "rotting teeth to develop into cancer of the jaw"."Books, by Darrell Schweitzer: SERIOUS FICTION", in ''

Aboriginal Science Fiction ''Aboriginal Science Fiction'' was a high-circulation semi-professional science fiction magazine started in October 1986 by editor Charles Ryan. After releasing 49 issues it ceased publication in the spring of 2001. In 2002 the rights to ''Abo ...

''; March–April 1989

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 Gnosticism (from grc, γνωστικός, gnōstikós, , 'having knowledge') is a collection of religious ideas and systems which coalesced in the late 1st century AD among Jewish and early Christian sects. These various groups emphasized per ...

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 Eve Adam and Eve, according to the creation myth of the Abrahamic religions, were the first man and woman. They are central to the belief that humanity is in essence a single family, with everyone descended from a single pair of original ancestors. ...

, 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, Nordic, or Scandinavian mythology is the body of myths belonging to the North Germanic peoples, stemming from Old Norse religion and continuing after the Christianization of Scandinavia, and into the Nordic folklore of the modern per ...

. After being out of print for many decades, Lindsay's work has become increasingly available. In 1971, ''A Voyage to Arcturus'' was produced as a 35mm feature film by

William J. Holloway William Judson Holloway (December 15, 1888 – January 28, 1970) was an American principal, lawyer, and politician who served as the fourth lieutenant governor of Oklahoma from 1927 to 1929. Following Henry S. Johnston's impeachment and remov ...

. It was the first film to be funded by a

National Endowment for the Arts The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal ...

grant and has recently been re-released.

Harold Bloom Harold Bloom (July 11, 1930 – October 14, 2019) was an American literary critic and the Sterling Professor of Humanities at Yale University. In 2017, Bloom was described as "probably the most famous literary critic in the English-speaking worl ...

was also interested 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 Misprision (from fro, mesprendre, modern french: se méprendre, "to misunderstand") in English law describes certain kinds of offence. Writers on criminal law usually divide misprision into two kinds: negative and positive. It survives in the la ...

, an homage and deep revision of ''A Voyage to Arcturus''. Bloom, however, conceded that his late-comer imitation is overwhelmed by Lindsay's great original.

Colin Wilson Colin Henry Wilson (26 June 1931 – 5 December 2013) was an English writer, philosopher and novelist. He also wrote widely on true crime, mysticism and the paranormal, eventually writing more than a hundred books. Wilson called his phil ...

was also interested in David Lindsay. He wrote an essay, "The Haunted Man: Lindsay as Novelist and Mystic" that first appeared in the book ''The Strange Genius of David Lindsay'' (1970), as well as prefaces to ''The Violet Apple'', ''The Witch'' and ''Sphinx''.

Bibliography

*''

'' (1920) *''

'' (1922) *''Sphinx'' (1923) * ''The Violet Apple'' (1924, first published 1976) *''Adventures of Monsieur de Mailly'' (1926) K ''A Blade for Sale'' (1927) Sre
The Adventures of Monsieur de Mailly/A Blade for Sale
/ref> *''Devil's Tor'' (1932) *''A Christmas Play'' (1930s, first published 2003) *''The Witch'' (unfinished, first published 1976)

References

Sources

*''The Strange Genius of David Lindsay: An Appreciation'' (1970) by J. B. Pick, E. H. Visiak and Colin Wilson *''The Life and Works of David Lindsay'' (1983) by Bernard Sellin,

Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press is the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by King Henry VIII in 1534, it is the oldest university press in the world. It is also the King's Printer. Cambridge University Pr ...

, *''David Lindsay's Vision'' by David Power (2005) *''David Lindsay'' by Gary K. Wolfe (Wildside Press LLC, 1982) *Galad Elflandsson "David Lindsay and the Quest for Muspel-Fire" in

(ed) ''Discovering Classic Fantasy Fiction'', Gillette NJ: Wildside Press, 1986, pp. 104–112.

External links