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E. H. Visiak

February 11, 2024

Edward Harold Physick (20 July 1878 – 30 August 1972) was an English writer, known chiefly as a critic and authority on John Milton; also, a poet and fantasy writer.[1] He was using the pseudonym E. H. Visiak by 1909.[2][3]

Life edit

He was born in Ealing, London, the son of Edward Joseph Physick, who married in 1877 Maude Searcy, daughter of John Searcy.[4][5] His grandfather Edward James Physick (1829–1906) was a sculptor, and secretary of the Congregationalist Paddington Chapel;[6] the sculpture business was taken over on his death by Edward Joseph and another of the sons.[7] William Henry Helm, writer and critic, who married in 1881 Ada Emmeline Physick, the youngest daughter, was his maternal uncle.[8][9]

Physick went to Hitchin Grammar School (now Hitchin Boys School), and also had some private tutoring. He became a clerk with the Indo-European Telegraph Company, working in London's Mincing Lane and also for a period in Manchester.[4]

During World War I the poetry he wrote, as Visiak, in opposition to it, cost him his job. When conscription was introduced, he became a conscientious objector. He spent some time as an agricultural labourer, and then taught in a preparatory school.[10] He published a poem in 1917 in The Ploughshare, the journal of the Socialist Quaker Society, edited by William Loftus Hare, and Hubert W. Peet, another conscientious objector.[11][12]

Visiak's father died in 1921, and he then lived with and cared for his mother.[4] In 1923 he was running a boys' preparatory school, Ascham House, in Brondesbury, with A. J. Welch.[13] They moved to Hove in World War II; she died in 1952 at age 98.[4]

Around 1967, when Colin Wilson wrote to him about Voyage to Arcturus, Visiak was in a nursing home.[14] The summer 1967 issue of the Aylesford Review was a "Homage to E. H. Visiak". Contributors included the poet Kenneth Hopkins (1914–1988) and Wilson.[15] At the end of his life, in 1971, Visiak published a poem in the ADAM International Review edited by Miron Grindea.[16]

Works edit

Taking on the pseudonym Visiak, he contributed poetry to The New Age. He was among the broad-based group of writers in the New Age who followed Mary Gawthorpe's lead and contributed to Dora Marsden's Freewoman in 1911–2.[17] His poetry appeared "all over" the magazine, according to Bruce Clarke, who considers it "undistinguished". It was noted by Rebecca West, as from the only other literary contributor.[18]

During the 1930s Visiak's poetry was published in Edwardian Poetry and Neo-Georgian Poetry edited by John Gawsworth.[19] He collaborated on short stories, with Gawsworth in particular. A friend of and enthusiast for the Scottish novelist David Lindsay, he provided an introductory note for Lindsay's novel A Voyage to Arcturus. He wrote three short macabre novels of his own, The Haunted Island, Medusa and The Shadow, and the autobiography Life's Morning Hour. The Shadow was incorporated in Gawsworth's anthology Crimes, Creeps and Thrills (1936), which also included Visiak's story "Medusan Madness".

Poetry edit

  • Buccaneer Ballads (1910). Published by Elkin Mathews, it had an introduction by John Masefield, and a frontispiece by Violet Helm, daughter of William Henry Helm.[20][21]
  • Flints and Flashes (1911), introduction by Alfred Lilley[22]
  • The Phantom Ship (1912), introduction by W. H. Helm[23]
  • The Battle Fiends (1916)[24]
  • Brief Poems (1919)[25]

Novels edit

  • The Haunted Island (1910, 1st edition Elkin Mathews, reprint Peter Lund, 1946)). It features the adventures of Francis and Dick Clayton in the 17th century, who sail a seized ship to one of the Juan Fernández Islands. They there fall into the hands of pirates, meet a ghost, and a wizard who rules over a colony of slaves. Ultimately they find a treasure.
  • The War of the Schools (1912) with C. V. Hawkins[26][27]
  • Medusa: A Story of Mystery (1929)[28]
  • The Shadow (1936)

Literary criticism edit

  • Milton Agonistes: a metaphysical criticism (1923)
  • The Animus Against Milton (1945, Grasshopper Press, reprinted 1970)[29]
  • Mirror of Conrad (1955)
  • The Portent of Milton: Some Aspects of His Genius (1958)
  • The Strange Genius of David Lindsay (1970; with J. B. Pick and Colin Wilson)

As editor edit

  • The Mask of Comus (1937)
  • Milton's Lament for Damon and his other Latin poems (1935; with Walter W. Skeat)
  • Richards' Shilling Selections from Edwardian Poets (1936)
  • Milton: Complete Poetry and Selected Prose, with English Metrical Translations of the Latin, Greek and Italian Poems (1938, later editiion 1952). Nonesuch Press, foreword by Arnold Wilson.[30]

Autobiography edit

  • Life's Morning Hour (1969)

Critical reception edit

His novel Medusa: A Story of Mystery (1929) became popular in the 1960s. Mike Ashley describes Medusa as Visiak's "premier achievement".[1] Medusa was also included by horror historian Robert S. Hadji in his list of "unjustly neglected" horror novels.[31] An essay on the novel by Karl Edward Wagner appears in the anthology Horror: 100 Best Books (1988; revised edition 1992). China Miéville has also expressed admiration for Visiak's work.[32]

Critical study/anthology edit

  • Harrison-Barbet, Anthony (Introduction by Colin Wilson). E. H. Visiak: Writer and Mystic (2007), Nottingham, England: Paupers' Press ISBN 978-0-946650-92-7

References edit

  1. ^ a b "Visiak, E(dward) H(arold)," Mike Ashley in David Pringle, St. James guide to Horror, Ghost & Gothic Writers. London : St. James Press, 1998, ISBN 1558622063 (pp. 611–12).
  2. ^ "Modernist Journals, Pseudonyms, pen names, and name variants in The New Age". modjourn.org.
  3. ^ "Modernist Journals, The New Age, Volume 5 (April 29 to October 28, 1909): An Introduction". modjourn.org.
  4. ^ a b c d "Papers of E.H.Visiak - Archives Hub". archiveshub.jisc.ac.uk.
  5. ^ The Pall Mall Budget: Being a Weekly Collection of Articles Printed in the Pall Mall Gazette from Day to Day, with a Summary of News. 1878. p. 77.
  6. ^ "Death of Mr. E. J. Physick". Marylebone Mercury. 18 August 1906. p. 6.
  7. ^ "Funeral of Mr. E. J. Physick". Marylebone Mercury. 25 August 1906. p. 6.
  8. ^ "Helm, William Henry". Who's Who. A & C Black. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  9. ^ "Marriages". London Evening Standard. 5 March 1881. p. 1.
  10. ^ "Edward Harold Physick". www.menwhosaidno.org.
  11. ^ "Quaker Strongrooms". strongrooms53.rssing.com.
  12. ^ "William Hubert Peet". www.menwhosaidno.org.
  13. ^ "Ascham House". Hampstead News. 2 August 1923. p. 6.
  14. ^ Stanley, Colin (2011). Around the Outsider: Essays Presented to Colin Wilson on the Occasion of His 80th Birthday. John Hunt Publishing. p. 178. ISBN 978-1-84694-668-4.
  15. ^ Sullivan, Alvin (1983). British Literary Magazines: The Modern Age, 1914-1984. Greenwood Press. p. 37. ISBN 978-0-313-22871-1.
  16. ^ Sullivan, Alvin (1983). British Literary Magazines: The Modern Age, 1914-1984. Greenwood Press. p. 5. ISBN 978-0-313-22871-1.
  17. ^ "Modernist Journals, General Introduction to the Marsden Magazines". modjourn.org.
  18. ^ Clarke, Bruce (1992). "Dora Marsden and Ezra Pound: "The New Freewoman" and "The Serious Artist"". Contemporary Literature. 33 (1): 97 and note. doi:10.2307/1208375. ISSN 0010-7484. JSTOR 1208375.
  19. ^ Miller, David; Price, Richard (2006). British Poetry Magazines, 1914-2000: A History and Bibliography of 'little Magazines'. British Library. pp. 18 and 33. ISBN 978-1-58456-197-2.
  20. ^ Bose, T.; Colbeck, R. N. (1 November 2011). A Bookman's Catalogue Vol. 2 M-End: The Norman Colbeck Collection of Nineteenth-Century and Edwardian Poetry and Belles Lettres. UBC Press. p. 530. ISBN 978-0-7748-4481-9.
  21. ^ "To Marry the Rev. Harry Horton". The Sketch. 6 September 1911. p. 28.
  22. ^ Visiak, Edward Harold (1911). Flints and Flashes. E. Mathews.
  23. ^ Visiak, Edward Harold (1912). The Phantom Ship: And Other Poems. Mathews.
  24. ^ Visiak, Edward Harold (1916). The Battle Fiends. E. Mathews.
  25. ^ Visiak, Edward Harold (1919). Brief Poems. Elkin Mathews.
  26. ^ Visiak, Edward Harold; Hawkins, C. V. (1912). The War of the Schools. E. Mathews.
  27. ^ The Athenaeum. J. Lection. 1912. p. 585.
  28. ^ Visiak, Edward Harold; Gawsworth, John (1929). Medusa: A Story of Mystery, and Ecstasy, and Strange Horror. V. Gollancz.
  29. ^ Visiak, Edward Harold (1970). The Animus Against Milton. Folcroft Press.
  30. ^ Milton, John (1952). Complete Poetry and Selected Prose: With English Metrical Transl. of the Latin, Greek and Italian Poems. Ed. by E. H. Visiak. With a Forew. by the Late Sir Arnold Wilson. Nonesuch Press.
  31. ^ R.S. Hadji, "13 Neglected Masterpieces of the Macabre", in Rod Serling's The Twilight Zone Magazine, July–August 1983. TZ Publications, Inc. (p. 62)[1]
  32. ^ "I like people like E. H. Visiak..." China Miéville profile in David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer, Year's Best Fantasy 3. New York, Harpercollins/Eos, ISBN 978-0-06-052180-6. (p. 339)

External links edit

February 11, 2024
visiak, edward, harold, physick, july, 1878, august, 1972, english, writer, known, chiefly, critic, authority, john, milton, also, poet, fantasy, writer, using, pseudonym, 1909, contents, life, works, poetry, novels, literary, criticism, editor, autobiography,. Edward Harold Physick 20 July 1878 30 August 1972 was an English writer known chiefly as a critic and authority on John Milton also a poet and fantasy writer 1 He was using the pseudonym E H Visiak by 1909 2 3 Contents 1 Life 2 Works 2 1 Poetry 2 2 Novels 2 3 Literary criticism 2 4 As editor 2 5 Autobiography 3 Critical reception 4 Critical study anthology 5 References 6 External linksLife editHe was born in Ealing London the son of Edward Joseph Physick who married in 1877 Maude Searcy daughter of John Searcy 4 5 His grandfather Edward James Physick 1829 1906 was a sculptor and secretary of the Congregationalist Paddington Chapel 6 the sculpture business was taken over on his death by Edward Joseph and another of the sons 7 William Henry Helm writer and critic who married in 1881 Ada Emmeline Physick the youngest daughter was his maternal uncle 8 9 Physick went to Hitchin Grammar School now Hitchin Boys School and also had some private tutoring He became a clerk with the Indo European Telegraph Company working in London s Mincing Lane and also for a period in Manchester 4 During World War I the poetry he wrote as Visiak in opposition to it cost him his job When conscription was introduced he became a conscientious objector He spent some time as an agricultural labourer and then taught in a preparatory school 10 He published a poem in 1917 in The Ploughshare the journal of the Socialist Quaker Society edited by William Loftus Hare and Hubert W Peet another conscientious objector 11 12 Visiak s father died in 1921 and he then lived with and cared for his mother 4 In 1923 he was running a boys preparatory school Ascham House in Brondesbury with A J Welch 13 They moved to Hove in World War II she died in 1952 at age 98 4 Around 1967 when Colin Wilson wrote to him about Voyage to Arcturus Visiak was in a nursing home 14 The summer 1967 issue of the Aylesford Review was a Homage to E H Visiak Contributors included the poet Kenneth Hopkins 1914 1988 and Wilson 15 At the end of his life in 1971 Visiak published a poem in the ADAM International Review edited by Miron Grindea 16 Works editTaking on the pseudonym Visiak he contributed poetry to The New Age He was among the broad based group of writers in the New Age who followed Mary Gawthorpe s lead and contributed to Dora Marsden s Freewoman in 1911 2 17 His poetry appeared all over the magazine according to Bruce Clarke who considers it undistinguished It was noted by Rebecca West as from the only other literary contributor 18 During the 1930s Visiak s poetry was published in Edwardian Poetry and Neo Georgian Poetry edited by John Gawsworth 19 He collaborated on short stories with Gawsworth in particular A friend of and enthusiast for the Scottish novelist David Lindsay he provided an introductory note for Lindsay s novel A Voyage to Arcturus He wrote three short macabre novels of his own The Haunted Island Medusa and The Shadow and the autobiography Life s Morning Hour The Shadow was incorporated in Gawsworth s anthology Crimes Creeps and Thrills 1936 which also included Visiak s story Medusan Madness Poetry edit Buccaneer Ballads 1910 Published by Elkin Mathews it had an introduction by John Masefield and a frontispiece by Violet Helm daughter of William Henry Helm 20 21 Flints and Flashes 1911 introduction by Alfred Lilley 22 The Phantom Ship 1912 introduction by W H Helm 23 The Battle Fiends 1916 24 Brief Poems 1919 25 Novels edit The Haunted Island 1910 1st edition Elkin Mathews reprint Peter Lund 1946 It features the adventures of Francis and Dick Clayton in the 17th century who sail a seized ship to one of the Juan Fernandez Islands They there fall into the hands of pirates meet a ghost and a wizard who rules over a colony of slaves Ultimately they find a treasure The War of the Schools 1912 with C V Hawkins 26 27 Medusa A Story of Mystery 1929 28 The Shadow 1936 Literary criticism edit Milton Agonistes a metaphysical criticism 1923 The Animus Against Milton 1945 Grasshopper Press reprinted 1970 29 Mirror of Conrad 1955 The Portent of Milton Some Aspects of His Genius 1958 The Strange Genius of David Lindsay 1970 with J B Pick and Colin Wilson As editor edit The Mask of Comus 1937 Milton s Lament for Damon and his other Latin poems 1935 with Walter W Skeat Richards Shilling Selections from Edwardian Poets 1936 Milton Complete Poetry and Selected Prose with English Metrical Translations of the Latin Greek and Italian Poems 1938 later editiion 1952 Nonesuch Press foreword by Arnold Wilson 30 Autobiography edit Life s Morning Hour 1969 Critical reception editHis novel Medusa A Story of Mystery 1929 became popular in the 1960s Mike Ashley describes Medusa as Visiak s premier achievement 1 Medusa was also included by horror historian Robert S Hadji in his list of unjustly neglected horror novels 31 An essay on the novel by Karl Edward Wagner appears in the anthology Horror 100 Best Books 1988 revised edition 1992 China Mieville has also expressed admiration for Visiak s work 32 Critical study anthology editHarrison Barbet Anthony Introduction by Colin Wilson E H Visiak Writer and Mystic 2007 Nottingham England Paupers Press ISBN 978 0 946650 92 7References edit a b Visiak E dward H arold Mike Ashley in David Pringle St James guide to Horror Ghost amp Gothic Writers London St James Press 1998 ISBN 1558622063 pp 611 12 Modernist Journals Pseudonyms pen names and name variants in The New Age modjourn org Modernist Journals The New Age Volume 5 April 29 to October 28 1909 An Introduction modjourn org a b c d Papers of E H Visiak Archives Hub archiveshub jisc ac uk The Pall Mall Budget Being a Weekly Collection of Articles Printed in the Pall Mall Gazette from Day to Day with a Summary of News 1878 p 77 Death of Mr E J Physick Marylebone Mercury 18 August 1906 p 6 Funeral of Mr E J Physick Marylebone Mercury 25 August 1906 p 6 Helm William Henry Who s Who A amp C Black Subscription or UK public library membership required Marriages London Evening Standard 5 March 1881 p 1 Edward Harold Physick www menwhosaidno org Quaker Strongrooms strongrooms53 rssing com William Hubert Peet www menwhosaidno org Ascham House Hampstead News 2 August 1923 p 6 Stanley Colin 2011 Around the Outsider Essays Presented to Colin Wilson on the Occasion of His 80th Birthday John Hunt Publishing p 178 ISBN 978 1 84694 668 4 Sullivan Alvin 1983 British Literary Magazines The Modern Age 1914 1984 Greenwood Press p 37 ISBN 978 0 313 22871 1 Sullivan Alvin 1983 British Literary Magazines The Modern Age 1914 1984 Greenwood Press p 5 ISBN 978 0 313 22871 1 Modernist Journals General Introduction to the Marsden Magazines modjourn org Clarke Bruce 1992 Dora Marsden and Ezra Pound The New Freewoman and The Serious Artist Contemporary Literature 33 1 97 and note doi 10 2307 1208375 ISSN 0010 7484 JSTOR 1208375 Miller David Price Richard 2006 British Poetry Magazines 1914 2000 A History and Bibliography of little Magazines British Library pp 18 and 33 ISBN 978 1 58456 197 2 Bose T Colbeck R N 1 November 2011 A Bookman s Catalogue Vol 2 M End The Norman Colbeck Collection of Nineteenth Century and Edwardian Poetry and Belles Lettres UBC Press p 530 ISBN 978 0 7748 4481 9 To Marry the Rev Harry Horton The Sketch 6 September 1911 p 28 Visiak Edward Harold 1911 Flints and Flashes E Mathews Visiak Edward Harold 1912 The Phantom Ship And Other Poems Mathews Visiak Edward Harold 1916 The Battle Fiends E Mathews Visiak Edward Harold 1919 Brief Poems Elkin Mathews Visiak Edward Harold Hawkins C V 1912 The War of the Schools E Mathews The Athenaeum J Lection 1912 p 585 Visiak Edward Harold Gawsworth John 1929 Medusa A Story of Mystery and Ecstasy and Strange Horror V Gollancz Visiak Edward Harold 1970 The Animus Against Milton Folcroft Press Milton John 1952 Complete Poetry and Selected Prose With English Metrical Transl of the Latin Greek and Italian Poems Ed by E H Visiak With a Forew by the Late Sir Arnold Wilson Nonesuch Press R S Hadji 13 Neglected Masterpieces of the Macabre in Rod Serling s The Twilight Zone Magazine July August 1983 TZ Publications Inc p 62 1 I like people like E H Visiak China Mieville profile in David G Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer Year s Best Fantasy 3 New York Harpercollins Eos ISBN 978 0 06 052180 6 p 339 External links editWorks by or about E H Visiak at Internet Archive Works by E H Visiak at LibriVox public domain audiobooks nbsp Online books and library resources in your library and in other libraries by E H Visiak E H Visiak at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database E H Visiak at Library of Congress with 13 library catalogue records Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title E H Visiak amp oldid 1193815861, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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