The Oxford Book of the Supernatural by D J Enright

The Oxford Book of the Supernatural by D J Enright

The supernatural has this in common with nature: you may drive it out with a pitchfork, but it will constantly come running back. At a time when science and technology are proving ambivalent in their effects and institutionalized religion is weakened by self-inflicted wounds, interest in the supernatural is insatiable. This sweeping anthology presents material in which, touchingly, eerily, or bizarrely, the supernatural and the natural meet and ignite, illuminating our deepest anxieties, frailties, and hopes. While chiefly concerned with specific instances, it gives due weight to the views of philosophers and of lovers and lost souls. Mixing what is advanced as fact with what is offered as fiction, it takes in hauntings both malignant and benign, magic, vampires and other popular monsters, witches and fairies, the devil seeking whom he may devour, sex and the supernatural, dreams and coincidences, daemonic influences in art, comedies of the occult, near-death experiences and after-death expectations. The closing section sums up the war between believers and disbelievers and touches on the processes of reading and of writing about the subject. This book is intended for those interested in the supernatural, ghosts, etc. and the literature thereof, practising spiritualists, readers of the Gothic, the occult.

D. J. Enright (1920-2002), poet, novelist, and critic, was born in Royal Leamington Spa, the son of a postman. He was educated at Leamington College and Downing College, Cambridge. His first collection of poetry, The laughing hyena and other poems was published in 1953. This was followed by an
anthology Poets of the 1950s (1955) which gathered together the work of contemporary poets that became known as The Movement. His own poetry was straightforward, sometimes ironic and almost in the style of light verse, often dealing with themes of inequality.

In fiction, D.J. Enright recreated his own experiences of a British academic in a foreign country. His first novel, Academic Year (1955), has been compared with Kingsley Amis's Lucky Jim. Enright published several books for children, including the novels The Joke Shop (1976), Wild Ghost Chase
(1978) and Beyond Land's End (1979).

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780192142016
ISBN 10	0192142011
Title	The Oxford Book of the Supernatural
Author	D J Enright
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Hardback
Publisher	Oxford University Press
Year published	1994-10-01
Number of pages	566
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.