WAR IN HEAVEN - The Dennis Wheatley Library of the Occult (44) Forty-Four - Softcover

Charles Williams

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0722191561 ISBN 13: 9780722191569

Publisher: Sphere Books Limited, 1976

Synopsis

'There are no novels anywhere quite like them ...He really believes in what he is talking about'. That was T. S. Eliot writing about the seven novels of Charles Williams. How to describe them? Again, probably in T. S. Eliot's words, 'They may be described as supernatural thrillers; 'popular' novels in the best sense, by a man who had something important and quite individual to say. When we say 'thrillers' we mean that their plots are adventurous and breathless, their scenes sometimes entrancing and sometime horrifying; and when we say 'supernatural' we mean that Williams had a real experience of the supernatural world to communicate. He had a kind of extended spiritual sense: he was like a man who can perceive shades of colour, or hear tones beyond the ordinary range. The theme of all his novels is the struggle between good and evil; and as an interpreter of the mystical experience he was unique in his generation. He excels in descriptions of strange experiences such as many people have had once or twice in their lives and have been unable to put into words. There are pages also which describe, with a frightful clarity, the deterioration and damnation of a human soul; and, pages which describe the triumphant struggle towards salvation. "War in Heaven" was the first in the sequence, published in 1930, and the most conventional of them. It relates the discovery of The Holy Grail in a country church and of the struggle between good and evil forces to possess it. There are detailed and convincing accounts of black magic. The author belonged to A. E. Waite's Christian Rosicrucian order, The Fellowship of the Rosy Cross and was therefore conversant with esoteric rites. All seven novels are being reissued in Faber Finds: "War in Heaven", "Many Dimensions", "The Place of the Lion", "The Greater Trumps", "Shadows of Ecstasy", "Descent into Hell" and "All Hallows' Eve".

About this title

Review:

"The telephone was ringing wildly," begins Charles Williams's novel War in Heaven, "but without result, since there was no-one in the room but the corpse." From this abrupt--and darkly humorous--start, Williams takes us on a 20th-century version of the Grail quest, with an Archdeacon, a Duke, and an editor playing the old Arthurian roles. Throughout, Williams reminds us that these legends were above all about divine, not just human, romance. While filled with marvels and black magic, the novel also suggests that the devil just might be what the face of God looks like to those who have sought destruction, just as that face is love to those who have sought love. The choice, Williams affirms, is always ours. --Doug Thorpe

From the Back Cover:

This book gives a contemporary setting to the traditional story of the Search for the Holy Grail. Examining the distinction between magic and religion, this eerily disturbing book graphically portrays a metaphysical journey through the shadowy crevices of the human mind.

About this edition

• Publisher: Sphere Books Limited
• Publication date: 1976
• ISBN 10: 0722191561
• ISBN 13: 9780722191569
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 205