TCDE-Team at 00:35, 26 February 2026

2026-02-26T00:35:09Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 02:35, 26 February 2026
Line 29:		Line 29:
	: The hunger to believe in things supernatural is matched only by the compulsion to disbelieve. Believers and disbelievers can be equally entrenched, equally predictable, and equally boring in their claims and counter-claims. The ever credulous and the unremittingly incredulous resemble two political parties forever nagging at each other. If there were a third party, one would vote for it. But there is a third party, or a loose association of third parties, as I hope this anthology will show by presenting material in which, touchingly, grotesquely, eerily, or frighteningly, the supernatural and the natural meet and ignite, illuminating our deepest anxieties and hopes.		: The hunger to believe in things supernatural is matched only by the compulsion to disbelieve. Believers and disbelievers can be equally entrenched, equally predictable, and equally boring in their claims and counter-claims. The ever credulous and the unremittingly incredulous resemble two political parties forever nagging at each other. If there were a third party, one would vote for it. But there is a third party, or a loose association of third parties, as I hope this anthology will show by presenting material in which, touchingly, grotesquely, eerily, or frighteningly, the supernatural and the natural meet and ignite, illuminating our deepest anxieties and hopes.

	And so it is that we find Dr Johnson and Sir Walter Scott rubbing shoulders with [[Arthur Conan Doyle\|ACD]], Colin Wilson and Susan Hill in this fascinating anthology. We are led through sections with such titles as 'Assorted Apparitions', 'Loving Revenants', 'Devils and Angels, Hells and Heavens', 'Fairies and Little Folk', 'Miracles and Prognostications', and 'Dreams, Coincidences and Telepathy' until the collection ends with the sections probably of most interest to those who follow the events of ACD's life: 'Spiritualism' and 'Believers and Disbelievers: on Reading and Writing about the Supernatural'.		And so it is that we find Dr Johnson and Sir Walter Scott rubbing shoulders with [[Arthur Conan Doyle\|ACD]], Colin Wilson and Susan Hill in this fascinating anthology. We are led through sections with such titles as 'Assorted Apparitions', 'Loving Revenants', 'Devils and Angels, Hells and Heavens', 'Fairies and Little Folk', 'Miracles and Prognostications', and 'Dreams, Coincidences and Telepathy' until the collection ends with the sections probably of most interest to those who follow the events of [[Arthur Conan Doyle\|ACD]]'s life: 'Spiritualism' and 'Believers and Disbelievers: on Reading and Writing about the Supernatural'.

	Mr Enright prefaces each section with a very short introduction, but at no time does he attempt to lead the reader to believe or disbelieve what is written. That in itself must have been difficult to avoid, given the number of items included in the book.		Mr Enright prefaces each section with a very short introduction, but at no time does he attempt to lead the reader to believe or disbelieve what is written. That in itself must have been difficult to avoid, given the number of items included in the book.

TCDE-Team: Created page with "{{Cargo_Reviews_Articles |Date=1994-01-01 |Book=The Oxford Book of the Supernatural |BookAuthor=D. J. Enright |Reviewer=Christopher Roden |Topics=Supernatural }} This review of the book ''"The Oxford Book of the Supernatural", edited by D. J. Enright'' was written by Christopher Roden and published in the A.C.D. - The Journal of The Arthur Conan Doyle Society (Vol. 5, 1994). This review examines the balanced editorial approach to belief and scepticism and i..."

2026-02-26T00:33:00Z

Created page with "{{Cargo_Reviews_Articles |Date=1994-01-01 |Book=The Oxford Book of the Supernatural |BookAuthor=D. J. Enright |Reviewer=Christopher Roden |Topics=Supernatural }} This review of the book ''"The Oxford Book of the Supernatural", edited by D. J. Enright'' was written by Christopher Roden and published in the A.C.D. - The Journal of The Arthur Conan Doyle Society (Vol. 5, 1994). This review examines the balanced editorial approach to belief and scepticism and i..."

New page

{{Cargo_Reviews_Articles
|Date=1994-01-01
|Book=The Oxford Book of the Supernatural
|BookAuthor=D. J. Enright
|Reviewer=Christopher Roden
|Topics=Supernatural
}}
This review of the book ''"The Oxford Book of the Supernatural", edited by D. J. Enright'' was written by [[Christopher Roden]] and published in the [[A.C.D. - The Journal of The Arthur Conan Doyle Society]] (Vol. 5, 1994).

This review examines the balanced editorial approach to belief and scepticism and its wide-ranging selection from writers including [[Arthur Conan Doyle]]. It praises the anthology's capacity to encourage thoughtful engagement with spiritualism and the broader supernatural tradition without endorsing either credulity or disbelief.

== Review ==
[[File:Acd-society-journal-1994-vol5-p221-review-croden.jpg|thumb|250px|right|[[A.C.D. - The Journal of The Arthur Conan Doyle Society]] (Vol. 5, 1994, p. 221)]]
[[File:Acd-society-journal-1994-vol5-p222-review-croden.jpg|thumb|250px|right|[[A.C.D. - The Journal of The Arthur Conan Doyle Society]] (Vol. 5, 1994, p. 222)]]

: [[File:oup-1994-the-oxford-book-of-the-supernatural.jpg|100px]]
: '''The Oxford Book of the Supernatural'''
: edited by D. J. Enright;
: Oxford University Press, 1994; 557pp; £17.99; ISBN: 0-19-214201-1

'''Reviewed by Christopher Roden'''

A character in Robertson Davies's ''Murther and Walking Spirits'' (1991) holds that matters of the spirit require 'a fine credulity about everything, kept in check by a lively scepticism about everything.' When his interlocutor objects that this doesn't get you anywhere, he replies, 'Oh, but it does. It keeps you constantly alert to every possibility.'

Keeping the reader constantly alert to every possibility seems to have been the aim of the editor of this latest anthology from Oxford. He writes:

: The hunger to believe in things supernatural is matched only by the compulsion to disbelieve. Believers and disbelievers can be equally entrenched, equally predictable, and equally boring in their claims and counter-claims. The ever credulous and the unremittingly incredulous resemble two political parties forever nagging at each other. If there were a third party, one would vote for it. But there is a third party, or a loose association of third parties, as I hope this anthology will show by presenting material in which, touchingly, grotesquely, eerily, or frighteningly, the supernatural and the natural meet and ignite, illuminating our deepest anxieties and hopes.

And so it is that we find Dr Johnson and Sir Walter Scott rubbing shoulders with [[Arthur Conan Doyle|ACD]], Colin Wilson and Susan Hill in this fascinating anthology. We are led through sections with such titles as 'Assorted Apparitions', 'Loving Revenants', 'Devils and Angels, Hells and Heavens', 'Fairies and Little Folk', 'Miracles and Prognostications', and 'Dreams, Coincidences and Telepathy' until the collection ends with the sections probably of most interest to those who follow the events of ACD's life: 'Spiritualism' and 'Believers and Disbelievers: on Reading and Writing about the Supernatural'.

Mr Enright prefaces each section with a very short introduction, but at no time does he attempt to lead the reader to believe or disbelieve what is written. That in itself must have been difficult to avoid, given the number of items included in the book.

The value of anthologies such as this is that the reader is likely to find an extract or two which will prompt further reading of the work in which they originate, thereby broadening his/her knowledge of the subject. As far as the supernatural is concerned, further reading and enquiry can be no bad thing: the subject has far-reaching implications which few of us would profess to understand.

Many would, I feel sure, like to understand more about the phenomena in which [[Arthur Conan Doyle|Conan Doyle]] believed, yet are hindered in their understanding by what Mr Enright described as the entrenchment of believers and disbelievers. With Spiritualism, for example, just as with any other religion, agnosticism really does not suffice. If we can offer no more than scepticism, then so be it, for surely that is something else entirely. With that in mind, perhaps the most encouraging extract included in this book is provided by Miguel de Unamuno, who wrote in ''My Religion'' (1924):

: The sceptic does not mean the one who doubts, but the one who inquires and searches, as opposed to the one who asserts and supposes he has found.

Christopher Roden

{{footer_acd_society_article}}
{{footer_periodicals}}
{{footer_review_articles}}

Review:The Oxford Book of the Supernatural/Christopher Roden - Revision history

TCDE-Team at 00:35, 26 February 2026