In this short, readable book, Rebecca Beattie introduces ten literary greats who are significant precursors to twentieth-century British paganism.
Ronald Hutton's Triumph of the Moon spoke of the prevalence of Pan and of nature worship in Edwardian English literature – this short book by Rebecca Beattie highlights ten of these writers, giving a brief overview of their lives and careers before drawing out the deeper eco-spiritual and philosophical themes in their work. She allocates a concise chapter each to: John Keats, Mary Webb, Thomas Hardy, Sylvia Townsend Warner, D.H. Lawrence, Elizabeth von Arnim, W.B. Yeats, Mary Butts, J.R.R. Tolkien and E. Nesbit. Their work speaks of occult or pantheistic forces, and the ideas in their writing fed into the world-view that gave rise to Gardnerian and post-Gardnerian paganism of the mid-twentieth century.
Alresford, Hants, UK: Moon Books (John Hunt Publishing), 2015. Paperback, 131 pages. New.
