This is my term for fantasy that deals with human spirituality, embodying belief systems that currently exist in the real world. What is obviously left out are the many gods and religions invented by fantasy writers for use in imagined worlds, as well as fantasy based on now-defunct real-world mythologies. Spiritual fantasy consists of three distinct but closely related types: religious fantasy, expressing the beliefs of real-world religions; occult fantasy, expressing the beliefs of various occult/esoteric/mystical belief systems, most of which are relatively recent reworkings of ancient pagan practices; and finally, fantasy expressing private belief systems invented by writers for their own personal use.
Religious Fantasy
As far as fantasy in the English language goes, this is overwhelmingly Christian fantasy. Before the twentieth century, there was a tendency to write fiction that preached Christian morality in a somewhat tedious and bossy manner. This was the product of a society that largely took Christianity for granted as the truth, where writers took it upon themselves to correct those who had strayed from the path.
Christian fantasy becomes more interesting in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, when Christian writers felt it necessary to defend their beliefs in an increasingly secular world. In the broad sense, Tolkien is a writer of Christian fantasy, since his books reflect Christian values – in particular the sense of a clear struggle between Good and Evil, and the final intervention of God on the side of Good.
However, if we are talking about overtly Christian fantasy, that refers to the religion directly, then there are three early writers who merit particular attention. The first is George Macdonald, who was a tremendous influence on C. S. Lewis, his better-known successor. Macdonald wrote three children’s fantasy novels, as well as a number of short stories, but perhaps his strongest achievement is his two novels for adults, Lilith and Phantastes, perhaps especially the latter. Both novels are written with visionary intensity, and have a haunting quality for the reader, whether believer or non-believer. The same quality is found in his better short fiction, especially “The Golden Key”.
C. S. Lewis is the one really well-known Christian fantasist, specifically because of the Narnia series. But Lewis also wrote the adult Cosmic Trilogy/Space Trilogy, a Science Fantasy series consisting of Out of the Silent Planet, Perelandra, and That Hideous Strength. The first two novels feature journeys to other planets, and are strongly influenced by A Voyage to Arcturus, by David Lindsay, of whom more below. The final novel, set on earth, is influenced by Charles Williams, the third Christian writer I want to talk about.
Williams, along with Lewis and Tolkien, belonged to The Inklings, a fantasy discussion group that was active in Oxford in the 1930s and 40s. He is less well known than Lewis, but is to my mind the better writer. He wrote seven Christian fantasy novels, all with a contemporary setting. They are consistently less didactic and angry than Lewis’ novels, and more positive in their treatment of non-Christians, although Lewis is not entirely negative in this regard.
One writer who seems to balance uneasily between Christianity and more traditional beliefs is Fiona Macleod (the pen name of William Sharp), who was a devout Christian but at the same time strongly attracted to the largely vanished Celtic paganism of the Gaelic-speaking Scottish people whom she wrote about. Like Macdonald, her fellow Scot, Macleod’s stories have a strongly visionary quality.
One Western writer who wrote entirely non-Christian religious fantasy of a sort is F. W. Bain, who produced a series of novellas based loosely on Hindu mythology and expressing a Hindu world view. The stories are original, but set in the Hindu world of gods, goddesses and ancient Indian kingdoms.
Outside the West, possibly the most notable example of religious fantasy is the 16th century Chinese novel Journey to the West, by Wu Cheng’en. This epic novel features a lengthy journey by a monk and his companions to collect Buddhist scriptures, and is unashamedly biased in favour of Buddhism as the one true religion.
Outside the West, too, are a group of mid-twentieth-century African writers, all of them Yoruba speakers from Nigeria. The two who are available in English are D. O. Fagunwa and Amos Tutuola. Both are Christians who try to reconcile their religion with the traditional beliefs of their people. In their works they assert their Christian convictions, but the settings and motifs come largely from Yoruba folklore.
Occult Fantasy
Probably the first esoteric movement in the modern Western world was Theosophy. A number of writers were adherents, and two are worth mentioning here. The first and most important is Kenneth Morris. His fantasy is almost entirely based on myth, but expresses the Theosophist belief that different religions and mythologies are connected and represent aspects of the same eternal truth. He was one of the founders of Celtic fantasy, with two novels based on the Welsh cycle of legends known as the Mabinogion.
The second Theosophist is Talbot Mundy, who largely wrote non-fantasy adventure stories with an Asian setting, although these often reflect a Theosophist world view. Some of his work does have aspects of the supernatural and King – Of the Khyber Rifles is probably the best known of these.
Some writers produced works that expressed an occult brand of Christianity. One was Marie Corelli, one of the most popular writers of her day. She did not write particularly well, but had a vivid imagination. Another writer was A. E. Waite, primarily a non-fiction writer on the occult and on the Tarot. His novel, The Quest of the Golden Stairs, is, as I have said elsewhere, very beautiful but very hard to understand.
When it comes to fully-fledged “pagan” occult writing, two names stand out, both of them actual practitioners of magic, and both primarily writers of occult non-fiction. The first is the infamous Aleister Crowley, who wrote a single novel, Moonchild, as well as some short stories and plays. The short stories include several collections of stories about an occult detective, Simon Iff, who investigates the supernatural. The novel is an interesting insight into the world of esoteric secret societies, although the ending is weak.
The second writer is Dion Fortune, who wrote five novels, as well as a collection of short stories about Dr Taverner, also an occult detective. Her novels were meant to be a practical demonstration of the ideas discussed in her non-fiction, and contain detailed descriptions of magical rituals, usually presented in a reasonably accessible fashion.
Authors with Private Belief Systems
I know of two authors who fall into this rather unusual category. The first is David Lindsay, whose personal philosophy, based on the rejection of pleasure, is expressed in his first novel, A Voyage to Arcturus. This is a very strange and beautiful book – difficult to understand, but worth reading for the incredible scenes it presents to the reader.
Finally we have my favourite early fantasy author, E. R. Eddison. His Zimiamvian Trilogy is set in a world based on his idea that the universe was created by Zeus, who then created Aphrodite and became captivated by her beauty. It’s a duality, a godhead containing two persons, instead of the three of Christianity. These two gods, embodying the male and female principles, then become incarnate in the world of Zimiamvia in a number of different people, with varying degrees of knowledge of their divinity. It’s very rich and gorgeous – Eddison was probably the most aesthetic of all the pre-Tolkien writers.
Conclusion
There are many other early writers of spiritual fantasy, but these are the ones who strike me as the most significant. Let me know if you discover any others!
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