Swedenborg Review 0.01 : Summer 2019

Description

The inaugural issue of the Swedenborg Society’s new annual periodical featuring articles and reviews on contemporary events and books plus other cultural and literary activities.

A copy of the latest issue of the Swedenborg Review is free to all Members of the Swedenborg Society and Friends of Swedenborg House, along with other benefits, including a free gift of a notebook or sketchbook, and a 20% discount of titles in our bookshop (both at Swedenborg House and on the online bookstore). You can be a Friend of Swedenborg House for just £5 a year.

 

 

Contents

1. An Evening with Mr Benn, and David McKee—David McKee in conversation with Stephen McNeilly. An Interview with the beloved creator of Mr Benn, Elmer and King Rollo.
   
2. Correspondences: Vernon Lee and Emanuel Swedenborg—Avery Curran. A comparative look at the two multi-disciplinary writers.
3. Distant Voices Clearly Heard—Gary Lachman. A review of John S Haller, Jr’s book.
4. John Flaxman: miniature wax bust of Swedenborg—Stephen McNeilly. The first of a series of catalogue notes exploring key items within the museum collection at Swedenborg House.
   
5. ‘Now It is Permitted: 24 Wayside Pulpits’—Paul O’Kane. A review of the exhibition curated by Bridget Smith and Stephen McNeilly at Swedenborg House in October 2016 as part of the Bloomsbury Festival.
   
6. The Humble Servant: Diane Eagles’s ceramic art inspired by William Blake and Swedenborg—Diane Eagles. An interview with the ceramic artist following her exhibition at Swedenborg House in October and November 2017. With still photography by Malcolm Smith.
   
7. Swedenborg’s London: 26 Cold Bath Fields—Stephen McNeilly. First in a series of casebook notes tracing the topography of London from the standpoint of Swedenborg’s life and influence.
   
8. Ad Caput Capitis: The Lost Skulls of Swedenborg—Jefferson Small and Willshaw Hughes. A series of Jefferson Small’s Polaroid photographs documenting the Ad Caput Capitis exhibition staged at Swedenborg House in October 2017, with text by Willshaw Hughes.
   
9. The Post-Human and John Murray Spear: Spirit Science and the New Motor—Alex Murray. An essay examining nineteenth-century spirit science and Spear’s fantastic invention.
   
10. The Vastation of Dr Singer: Jacob’s Ladder and the Swedenborgian Afterlife—James Wilson. An essay looking at Adrian Lyne’s disturbing 1990 cinematic masterpiece through a Swedenborgian lens.
    
11. Seven Sonnets For Swedenborg: 1. William Blake—Stephen McNeilly. A study of Blake’s ‘The Divine Image’.
    
12. English Romantics—Avery Curran. A review of the Swedenborg and the English Romantics exhibition staged at Swedenborg House in October-November 2018.
    
13. The 2019 Birthday Meeting: An ensemble of Ten award-winning poets—Denise Prentice. A report on the x10: an ensemble of award-winning poets event that took place at Swedenborg House in January 2019. With photograph by Alex Rowe.
    
14. Drawing and exploring: Swedenborg House and its hidden treasures—Avery Curran with photographs by Jacob Cartwright. Report on the Discover the hidden treasures of Swedenborg House drawing workshops with artist and author Sally Kindberg.
    
15. Cartography of the Brain—Avery Curran. A report of Dr David Lister’s seminar series held July-September 2019.
    
16. In Memoriam: Norman Ryder (1933-2018)—James Wilson. An obituary of the author of the multi-volume A Descriptive Bibliography of the Works of Emanuel Swedenborg (1688-1772).
    
17. Bloomsbury Festival—Avery Curran. An overview of the Swedenborg Society’s involvement in the festival over recent years.
    
18. Swedenborg Radio—Avery Curran. Notice of a forthcoming project.
    
19. Publishing news—Avery Curran. A round-up of recent and forthcoming books published by the Swedenborg Society.
    
20. Graffiti Art—Stephen McNeilly. News of an interesting graffito spotted on Leake Street.
    
21. Building news—Avery Curran. News of an environmental audit.
    
22. Swedenborg Film Festival 2019—Avery Curran. Preview of the upcoming short film festival.
23. Bookshop—Some new titles available online and at Swedenborg House.

Contributor bios

JACOB CARTWRIGHT is an artist and filmmaker.

AVERY CURRAN graduated from Oxford University with a degree in History and will soon undertake an MA in Victorian Studies at Birkbeck, University of London. She has experience in publishing and gallery curation. Her research interests lie in late nineteenth-century gender and cultural history, in particular the gendered aspect of spiritualist mediumship.

DIANE EAGLES is a London-based ceramic artist. Diane has exhibited work at The Wellcome Collection; Kingston Guildhall; Draper Hall; Dulwich Artists’ Open House; Morley Gallery, Waterloo; and the Contemporary Crafts & Design Fair, Chelsea. Her work has also featured on the cover of The International Journal of Art Psychotherapy. She is also a founding member of the ceramic artists’ collective, The Associated Clay Workers Union (ACWU). To view examples of Diane’s work visit her website at www.edensclay.co.uk.

WILLSHAW HUGHES is a freelance writer and photographer.

GARY LACHMAN is the author of twenty-one books on topics ranging from the evolution of consciousness to literary suicides, popular culture and the history of the occult. His recent publications include Dark Star Rising: Magick and Power in the Age of Trump (2018) and Beyond the Robot: The Life and Work of Colin Wilson (2016). Gary was a founding member of the pop group Blondie and in 2006 was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

DAVID MCKEE is a writer and artist best known for his children’s books and animations. His creations across books and television include Mr Benn, Elmer and King Rollo, which have appeared in more than forty languages. As well as his own characters, David has also done illustration work for the Paddington Bear books and has published cartoons in Punch, The Times Literary Supplement and Reader’s Digest.

STEPHEN MCNEILLY is the Executive and Museum Director of the Swedenborg Society. He has curated numerous exhibitions at Swedenborg House and is the series editor of the Swedenborg Archive Series and the Journal of the Swedenborg Society.

ALEX MURRAY is the librarian and archivist at the Swedenborg Society. His research interests have included Spiritualism; James John Garth Wilkinson (1812-99); and infant school pioneer and educator Samuel Wilderspin (1791-1866). He is currently researching late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century social reform movements, with particular emphasis on Swedenborgian involvement.

PAUL O’KANE is an artist, writer and lecturer. He completed a Ph.D. in History at Goldsmiths, University of London in 2009. He now lectures in Critical Studies at Central St Martins and University of the Arts London. His art focuses on the mechanized image, and he is a founder member of the artists’ book publishing imprint eeodo, with whom he published Where Is That Light Now? (2014).

DENISE PRENTICE has worked in the sectors of law, retail and finance. Her diverse professional background has taken her into both the private and public sectors, informing her expertise in business operations and organizational development. In addition to her work at the Society, Denise runs a communications consultancy providing copywriting and communication strategies to businesses and creative projects.

ALEX ROWE is a science fiction writer.

JEFFERSON SMALL is a freelance writer, translator and photographer.

MALCOLM SMITH is a freelance photographer.

KESSLER VOGES is an artist, designer and photographer.

JAMES WILSON is the author of a novel Three Bridges (2014) and two collections of prose poems, All the Colours Fade and The Song Remains the Same (both 2012). He has also translated two books by the French writer Guy de Maupassant, To the Sun and The Foreign Soul & The Angelus (both 2008).