Evelyn Underhill

Leon Surette (University of Western Ontario)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.08: English Writing and Culture of the early Twentieth Century , 1900-1945.
Vol. editors: Chris Baldick (Goldsmiths College, University of London), Peter Childs (Birmingham Newman University), Louise McDonald (Birmingham Newman University), Andrew Radford (University of Glasgow)

Dates

Born 6 Dec 1875
Died 15 Jun 1941
Activity 1902-1941

Places

Born in England
Active in England

Activities

Primary

Biographer
Essayist
Religious writer
Theologian

Other

Journalist
Mystic
Novelist
Pamphleteer
Poet
Political Philosopher
Teacher/ Professor

Resources

Underhill's Works

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Evelyn Underhill is remembered principally for her 1911 study,

Mysticism: A Study in the Nature and Development of Man's Spiritual Consciousness

. For literary scholars, she is of particular interest because T. S. Eliot read this work as a Harvard PhD candidate, some time after his return from Paris (where he had attended Bergson's lectures) in the autumn of 1911. Underhill heard the same lectures later in 1911, when Bergson delivered them in London (in French). His copy is preserved in the Houghton library, and is heavily marked (Gordon 89). Unfortunately his biographer, Lyndall Gordon, does not indicate which edition Eliot read. We know that she revised the work substantially after hearing Bergson, for the third edition of 1912. It is probable that Eliot bought that edition after…

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2352 words

Citation: Surette, Leon. "Evelyn Underhill". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 21 April 2008 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=12081, accessed 26 November 2024.]