Essay
The Candle of Vision
George William Russell · 1918
Synopsis
In twenty short chapters, the author looks back on the visions he says he has had since childhood and on the meditation that opened them to him. He then turns to dreaming, imagination and intuition, looks in the sounds of a primal language for the hidden meaning of words, and goes on to offer a mystical reading of the ancient gods of Ireland and of the birth of the world according to the Celts.
Context
The essay appeared in London with Macmillan in 1918, signed AE, a remnant of the word “Aeon” that the printer had hesitated to read. Its chapters range from a look back to a meditation on the earth, by way of dreams, intuition and Celtic cosmogony. Léon-Gabriel Gros translated it in 1952 under the title Le Flambeau de la vision, published by Cahiers du Sud, with a presentation by Jacques Masui; Patrice Repusseau produced another translation in 2005, in Monaco, followed by an afterword by Georges Bataille.
Who it is for
A short essay, in prose, using the vocabulary of theosophy; readable in French in two translations.
Prizes and reception
Regarded as the best guide to its author's religious beliefs; Georges Bataille's French translation, first published in 1952, was reissued in 2005.
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