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Oxford Studies in Western Esotericism
Open Secrets: The Popular Fiction of Britain's Occult Revival, 1842-1936
Open Secrets examines the popular genre fiction produced by leading figures within Britain's occult revival from the 1840s to the 1930s, including Edward Bulwer Lytton, Emma Hardinge Britten, Marie Corelli, Mabel Collins, Arthur Machen, Charles Fort, Aleister Crowley, and Dion Fortune. Ferguson demonstrates how the revival's popular fictional output was always more than just a reflection of, or mode of propaganda for, unorthodox authorial belief or initiatory intention-this fascinating corpus became a charged site for genre innovation and formal experimentation. The rich spiritual and literary affordances of revival fiction,
Open Secrets reveals, were deeply interlinked and mutually transformative. As embraced by occult revivalists, popular literary genres such as the Bildungsroman, the romance, the new journalistic article, and the detective tale forged narrative routes into the unseen world, ones that alternately championed, tested, and challenged the esoteric philosophies and paranormal theories that inspired them.
Open Secrets reveals, were deeply interlinked and mutually transformative. As embraced by occult revivalists, popular literary genres such as the Bildungsroman, the romance, the new journalistic article, and the detective tale forged narrative routes into the unseen world, ones that alternately championed, tested, and challenged the esoteric philosophies and paranormal theories that inspired them.
248 pages, Hardcover
Published June 18, 2025
8 people want to read
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November 29, 2025
Open Secrets is a richly researched and intellectually invigorating study of Britain’s occult revival and the popular fiction it inspired. Christine Ferguson masterfully uncovers how writers such as Edward Bulwer Lytton, Marie Corelli, Arthur Machen, Aleister Crowley, and Dion Fortune used fiction not merely to promote esoteric ideas, but to experiment boldly with genre, form, and narrative possibility. Ferguson’s central insight, that occult fiction functioned as a creative laboratory where spiritual belief and literary innovation shaped each other, is both compelling and revelatory. She demonstrates how genres like the romance, Bildungsroman, detective tale, and new journalism became unexpected gateways into the unseen, allowing authors to explore and interrogate paranormal theories, mystical philosophies, and the boundaries of the knowable world.
Displaying 1 of 1 review