From art study to a writing livelihood
Born on Hayling Island in 1885, Bowen grew up in unsettled circumstances in and around London. She studied art at Heatherley’s, the Slade and in Paris, while largely educating herself in history, languages and literature. The Viper of Milan, published in 1906, began a sustained professional career in fiction.
Her first marriage took her between England and Italy; after her husband’s death she later married Arthur Long. Family responsibilities accompanied an output of more than 150 books. Several pen names distinguished parts of that work, including Joseph Shearing and George R. Preedy. Historical romance, supernatural fiction and biography all contributed to her livelihood. Her autobiography, The Debate Continues, appeared in 1939 as Margaret Campbell. She died in 1952.
The secret behind an appearance of authority
Black Magic is a dark historical novel, rather than an occult manual. The retained Abbey Library title is undated. Its divisions, The Nun and The Pope, organise a movement from private relationships towards public religious power.
The opening places a craftsman gilding a wooden devil in a sunlit Flemish room. Tools, furnishings and talk of universities make the setting concrete while Dirk’s knowledge suggests another kind of ambition. Attraction and fear develop together in his relationship with Theirry. Later religious splendour magnifies the stakes without removing the concealed personal history beneath it. Images, costume and titles make authority visible while obscuring its origins. The novel’s revelations depend on the changing distribution of knowledge among characters whose loyalties remain divided.
