John Symonds (12 March 1914, Battersea,

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

– 21 October 2006) was an English novelist, biographer, playwright and writer of children's books.

Biography

Early life

He was the son of Robert Wemyss Symonds and Lily Sapzells. At the age of 16 he moved to London and began educating himself by spending long hours in the reading room of the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

. A partial reconciliation with his father resulted in the latter funding research work that John Symonds would later mine for his own novels later in life. His first job was at Hulton Press, working as a journalist on

Picture Post ''Picture Post'' was a photojournalistic magazine published in the United Kingdom from 1938 to 1957. It is considered a pioneering example of photojournalism and was an immediate success, selling 1,700,000 copies a week after only two months. ...

and during this period he became friends with Dylan Thomas and

Stephen Spender Sir Stephen Harold Spender (28 February 1909 – 16 July 1995) was an English poet, novelist and essayist whose work concentrated on themes of social injustice and the class struggle. He was appointed Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry by th ...

. Being exempted from military service, he edited ' Lilliput' magazine during which time he briefly married Hedwig Feuerstein.

Career

In 1945 he married Renata Israel, and the following year (1946) he published his first novel, ''William Waste''. This was followed in 1955 by ''The Lady in the Tower'', and, in 1957, by another love story, ''A Girl Among Poets'', which won praise from Sir John Betjeman, who wrote of the author's "gift for describing farcical situations". Symonds met the occultist and founder of the Thelemite religion,

Aleister Crowley Aleister Crowley (; born Edward Alexander Crowley; 12 October 1875 – 1 December 1947) was an English occultist, ceremonial magician, poet, painter, novelist, and mountaineer. He founded the religion of Thelema, identifying himself as the pr ...

in 1946, the year before Crowley's death. Crowley's will left the copyright of his works to his unincorporated magical society, the Ordo Templi Orientis (O.T.O.), and made him Crowley's literary executor, though Crowley's legal status as an undischarged bankrupt meant that the copyrights actually ended up in receivership. At first fascinated by Crowley, Symonds became increasingly critical of his ideas and manners, in particular the use of drugs and sex. Along with one of Crowley's disciples,

Kenneth Grant Kenneth is an English given name and surname. The name is an Anglicised form of two entirely different Gaelic personal names: ''Cainnech'' and '' Cináed''. The modern Gaelic form of ''Cainnech'' is ''Coinneach''; the name was derived from a byna ...

, Symonds edited and republished Crowley's autobiography and a number of his other works. Further to this, he authored four biographical works of his own: ''The Great Beast'' (1952), ''The Magic of Aleister Crowley'' (1958), ''The King of the Shadow Realm'' (1989) and ''The Beast 666'' (1997). Due to his somewhat negative attitude to Crowley in these works, there were many involved in Thelema and

ceremonial magic Ceremonial magic (ritual magic, high magic or learned magic) encompasses a wide variety of rituals of magic. The works included are characterized by ceremony and numerous requisite accessories to aid the practitioner. It can be seen as an ex ...

who were themselves critical of Symonds, including

Israel Regardie Francis Israel Regardie (; né Regudy; November 17, 1907 – March 10, 1985) was a British-American occultist, ceremonial magician, and writer who spent much of his life in the United States. He wrote fifteen books on the subject of occultism. Bo ...

, who called him "that most hostile biographer." Nonetheless, his significance in keeping Crowley's legacy alive has also been recognised, and it has been noted that "Regardless of his reception, it is no exaggeration to state that without the publication efforts of Symonds (and Grant) Crowley could easily have been a forgotten figure by the 1970s." Journal for the Academic Study of Magic 2009. p. 314. He found his widest (largest) audience in the writing of children's books. In 'The Magic Currant Bun', (1953), a boy chases a magic bun, which came out of an oven, through the streets of Paris He enjoyed the bun very much when he caught it in his mouth. His feline magical fantasy, ''Isle of Cats'' (illustrated by

Gerard Hoffnung Gerard Hoffnung (22 March 192528 September 1959) was an artist and musician, best known for his humorous works. Raised in Germany, Hoffnung was brought to London as a boy, to escape the Nazis. Over the next two decades in England, he became kno ...

), followed in 1955. ''Lottie'' (1957), is the story of a talking doll and dog. Edward Ardizzone was the illustrator for this book and ''Elfrida and the Pig'' (1959), a story about little girl who is not allowed to play with dolls until she finished her punishment which was to trim her parents' bushes. After a period of writing children's books Symonds returned to biographies in 1959 with ''Madame Blavatsky, Medium and Magician'', a life of the famous Theosophist. This was followed in 1961 with ''Thomas Brown and the Angels: A Study in Enthusiasm'', about the life of a Methodist who becomes involved with the Shakers. Novels followed, beginning with ''William Waste'' (1947), ''The Lady in the Tower'' (1955), ''A Girl Among Poets'' (1957), then a gothic fantasy, ''Bezill'' (1962), then ''Light Over Water'' (1963), in which a journalist researches into the world of the occult. The subject of ''With a View on the Palace'' (1966) is a Russian film director who becomes obsessed with the Royal Family to the point of hiring an apartment near Buckingham Palace so he can observe their movements. In ''The Stuffed Dog'' (1967), two girls discover a lifelike doll in an attic which has a man's voice. With 'In Prophesy and the Parasites', 1973, a wealthy widow awaits prospective ic Psychological issues predominate in ''The Shaven Head'' (1974), and ''In Letters from England'' (1975), a German veteran of Stalingrad humbles himself by applying to work as an

au pair An au pair (; plural: au pairs) is a helper from a foreign country working for, and living as part of, a host family. Typically, au pairs take on a share of the family's responsibility for childcare as well as some housework, and receive a mon ...

for a London doctor. In ''The Child'' (1976), a girl starts a new religion. Symonds wrote twenty-six plays but not many were performed. He won critical praise in 1961 for his ITV play, ''I, Having Dreamt, Awake'', about a prodigal son and con-man who returns home from America, after manufacturing a fortune, to impress his poor relations in London. ''The Poison Maker'', his final work for the stage was performed at the

Old Red Lion Theatre The Old Red Lion is a pub and fringe theatre, at Angel, in the London Borough of Islington. The theatre was founded in 1979 as the Old Red Lion Theatre Club. The pub was Grade II listed in 1994 by Historic England. History Construction The p ...

in 2006, adapted and directed by the actress Vicki Carpenter who played Florence, with Eva Gray as Pansy. In 1970 Symonds was appointed to the editorial board of '' Man, Myth & Magic Encyclopedia''. He became literary executor to Gerald Hamilton, and, in 1974, published ''Conversations with Gerald'', an account of Hamilton's adventures. He died on 21 October 2006 and was buried on the east side of

Highgate Cemetery Highgate Cemetery is a place of burial in north London, England. There are approximately 170,000 people buried in around 53,000 graves across the West and East Cemeteries. Highgate Cemetery is notable both for some of the people buried there as ...

References

Bibliography

Non-fiction

* ''The Great Beast. The Life of Aleister Crowley''. London: Rider, 1951. 316pp., illus., with "Notes on the Horoscope of Aleister Crowley" by Rupert Gleadow & 'Bibliography of the Works of Aleister Crowley' compiled by Gerald Yorke.' ** ''The Great Beast. The Life and Magick of Aleister Crowley''. London: Macdonald, 1971. viii, 413pp.,prt., with "Notes on the Horoscope of Aleister Crowley" by Rupert Gleadow. * ''The King of the Shadow Realm. Aleister Crowley his life and magic''. London: Duckworth, 1989. xi, 588pp., with 'Notes on the Horoscope of Aleister Crowley' by Rupert Gleadow. * ''The Beast 666. The Life of Aleister Crowley''. London: The Pindar Press, 1997. x, 608pp., with 'Notes on the Horoscope of Aleister Crowley' by Rupert Gleadow. * ''The Magic of Aleister Crowley''. London: Frederick Muller, 1958.209pp., illus.

Fiction

* ''William Waste''. London: Sampson Low, Marston, 1947. 184pp. * ''The Lady in the Tower'' (1955) * ''A Girl Among Poets'' (1957) * ''Bezill'' (1962) * ''Light Over Water'' (1963) * ''The Medusa's Head'' (1991)

Children's Books

* ''The Stuffed Dog'' (London: J. M. Dent & Sons, 1967), illustrated by Edward Ardizzone

External links

"John Symonds – Obituary"
''The Telegraph'', 11 November 2006, retrieved 10 May 2007.

''The Guardian'', 22 November 2006.
"John Symonds – Obituary"
''The Independent'', 11 November 2006. {{DEFAULTSORT:Symonds, John English biographers English children's writers English fantasy writers English male journalists English occult writers English short story writers People from Battersea 1914 births 2006 deaths Burials at Highgate Cemetery English male short story writers English male novelists 20th-century English novelists 20th-century biographers 20th-century British short story writers 20th-century English male writers Male biographers