A VAST SHADOW HOUSE: DAVID LINDSAY’S VISION

An essay documentary film, exploring the life and work of Scots-born fantasy writer David Lindsay (1876-1945), author of the cult classic A Voyage to Arcturus (1920). This unforgettably strange interplanetary fantasy inspired C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien and Phillip Pullman, among others. Lindsay was haunted by visions of a higher world, hidden behind mundane reality. Deeply affected by the losses of WWI, he left a secure career in London’s City to become a writer.

In each of his novels, the protagonist finds glimpses of the transcendental in liminal places: the cliffs of the Scottish North Coast (A Voyage to Acturus), the tors of Dartmoor (Devil’s Tor), a time-window at the top of a haunted house (The Haunted Woman), or the strange house of a witch on the South Downs (The Witch).

Lindsay’s novels take us through gnostic true and false realities years before writers like Philip K. Dick explored the same territory. Lindsay was also one of the first fantasy writers to explore witchcraft, paganism and matriarchal themes.

Largely unappreciated in his own lifetime, the publication of A Voyage to Arcturus in paperback in 1968 gave Lindsay his first wide readership, and his work found a receptive audience in the counterculture.

To illuminate and explore Lindsay’s vision, A Vast Shadow House takes us on a cinematic journey through the otherworldly landscapes of his imagination, using spectacular aerial shots, together with archival and super-8 footage. Featuring interviews with Alan Moore (Watchmen, writer, wizard), Douglas A. Anderson (one of America’s leading Tolkien scholars), Harold Bloom (literary critic, gnostic), Gary K. Wolfe (SF critic), and others.

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Running time: 57 mins
Scotland, 2022
Production Company: Lanterna Magicka Films Ltd.
Screening formats: DCP, mov file
Contact: s.martin@napier.ac.uk