Kathleen Raine: Classics and Consciousness (Classical Receptions in Twentieth-Century Writing) - Hardcover

Messenger, Jenny

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1350260541 ISBN 13: 9781350260542

Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic, 2025

Synopsis

For the poet and scholar Kathleen Raine, ancient texts were not obsolete, but vital handbooks for reading reality. Drawing on Graeco-Roman philosophy alongside modernist receptions of the ancient world, this book is the first study of her engagement with classical antiquity. Raine’s interpretation of the classical past not only informed her literary work, but also gave her a compelling perspective, which located consciousness as the basis of reality. This way of seeing the world, traceable from antiquity to the present day via the ‘perennial philosophy’, claimed little distinction between inner self and outer world, and stressed the interconnectedness of all beings. Jenny Messenger explores Raine’s use of Graeco-Roman philosophy as source texts for understanding consciousness, articulated throughout her poetry, scholarship and autobiographical writing. Raine believed there were multiple planes of consciousness, across which symbolic poetry and prose could operate to reach the highest levels of being. The creative arts were even capable of shaping consciousness, expanding or shrinking the scope of what could be experienced. Though she won acclaim during her lifetime, her literary reputation has been overshadowed by her relationship with writer and naturalist Gavin Maxwell. This book moves the focus back to Raine’s work, bringing her complex classicism to a wider audience.

About this title

About the Author

Jenny Messenger is an independent scholar, UK. She is a journalist and writer, and she has published numerous articles on social housing, sustainability and the climate crisis.

Edition details

• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
• Publication date: 2025
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1350260541
• ISBN 13: 9781350260542
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 188