The Life and Works of David Lindsay

David Lindsay was a writer of fantasy fiction who died in 1945. He belongs to the tradition of modern fantasy, as distinct from science-fiction, which has its roots in the writings of, amongst others, George Macdonald, and has been maintained in the work of Charles Williams, Mervyn Peake and J. R. R. Tolkien. Lindsay took up a writing career rather late in life, however his name was known within literary circles and two eminent writers expressed their admiration for his work: L. H. Myers and C. S. Lewis. Indeed, Lewis wrote that Lindsay's most famous book, A Voyage to Arcturus, had exerted a strong influence on his own work. Interest in Lindsay has been growing steadily, and in this book, Bernard Sellin has written a comprehensive survey of Lindsay's life and work, analysing the thematic patterns of Lindsay's settings, plots and characters. It will be read with profit by all those who are interested both in Lindsay and in the genre of fantasy literature.