RT Article
T1 'Improper Grimoires': Evelyn Underhill's Representation of Ritual Magic in The Column of Dust
JF Literature and theology
VO 33
IS 1
SP 25
OP 49
A1 Pazdziora, J. Patrick
LA English
YR 2019
UL https://ixtheo.de/Record/166344451X
AB Evelyn Underhill (1875-1941) is generally regarded as a piously Anglican writer; her interest in the occult is either elided or dismissed as unserious dabbling. An examination of her writings on the subject, however, reveals a keen, intelligent curiosity about the theory and practice of ritual magic. Underhill studied the occult in real depth, eventually fictionalising a conjuration in her novel The Column of Dust (1909). Underhill saw the occult not merely as the preserve of cranks and charlatans, but as a coherent system of belief which provided a sense of power and independence for women constrained by middle-class social structures.
DO 10.1093/litthe/fry030