Cart 0
Cart 0
Ritual, Myth and Mysticism in the Work of Mary Butts: Between Feminism and Modernism by Roslyn Reso Foy (University of Arkansas Press / 2000)
Ritual, Myth and Mysticism in the Work of Mary Butts: Between Feminism and Modernism by Roslyn Reso Foy (University of Arkansas Press / 2000)
University of Arkansas Press (2000)

Ritual, Myth and Mysticism in the Work of Mary Butts: Between Feminism and Modernism by Roslyn Reso Foy

£28.00

Ritual, Myth and Mysticism in the Work of Mary Butts: Between Feminism and Modernism by Roslyn Reso Foy (University of Arkansas Press / 2000)

'Mary Butts wrote and lived among notable modernist writers such as T.S. Eliot, Ford Madox Ford, Jean Cocteau, H.D., and Ezra Pound, and was on her way to becoming one of the most respected British female writers of the twentieth century. Yet, after her death in 1937 at the age of forty-six, her reputation suffered a decline. Butt’s idiosyncratic spirituality did not lend itself to easy critical examination, modernism was generally considered a masculine endeavor, and her papers were not made public for over fifty years. The recent acquisition of those papers by the Beinecke Library at Yale University, however, has brought about a resurgence of interest in her unique writings. 

Mary Butts confronts and reinterprets reality in extraordinary ways, and her modernist vision recalls the natural origins and powers of the female divine. Her intense dedication to ancient rites and myth, and her dabbling in the occult, became embedded in her fiction and led to her own brand of mysticism. Indeed, the Butts heroine is at once, healer, sacred priestess, earth goddess, lover, and daimon/demon. In presenting her characters this way, Butts valorizes what she calls “the soul living at its fullest capacity.' 

'Roslyn Reso Foy gives us the first sustained critical study of Butts, exploring the signficance of feminism, mysticism, and magic in her life and writings. Foy’s thoughtful analysis, combining scholarship with straightforward discussion, will serve as an introduction to, and foundation for, further critical studies of this remarkable female modernist whose work coincides with contemporary concerns and who can no longer be ignored.'

First edition hardcover. Some very light wear to dustjacket including some sunning of a vertical strip of back cover adjacent to spine. Otherwise, there is no marking to black clothbound boards and book as a whole remains in very good condition with clean, unmarked pages which are free from notes and underlining.

Format: Hardcover
Pages: 164
Condition: VERY GOOD

Please note: buyers from within EU may be subject to VAT / customs charges within their own jurisdiction.

More from this collection