The Necromancers Sets Out to Expose the Dangers of "Spiritism,"

In THE NECROMANCERS Robert Hugh Benson sets out to expose the dangers of "Spiritism," interest in which had reached epidemic proportions by the early twentieth century. C. C. Martindale, S.J. commented that, "It is in THE NECROMANCERS that he brings all his heavy artillery to bear on his professed enemy. Here again the uncanny enters, but rises to the heroic level, and achieves the horrible; and I will confess that I can think of no book which reaches so high a pitch of horror, unaided by alien elements." ...Robert Hugh Benson AFSC KC*SG KGCHS (18 November 1871 - 19 October 1914) was an English Anglican priest who in 1903 was received into the Roman Catholic Church in which he was ordained priest in 1904. He was a prolific writer of fiction and wrote the notable dystopian novel Lord of the World (1907). His output encompassed historical, horror and science fiction, contemporary fiction, children's stories, plays, apologetics, devotional works and articles. He continued his writing career at the same time as he progressed through the hierarchy to become a Chamberlain to the Pope in 1911 and subsequently titled Monsignor.Early lifeBenson was the youngest son of Edward White Benson (Archbishop of Canterbury) and his wife, Mary, and the younger brother of Edward Frederic Benson and Arthur Christopher Benson.Benson was educated at Eton College and then studied classics and theology at Trinity College, Cambridge, from 1890 to 1893.In 1895, Benson was ordained a priest in the Church of England by his father, who was the then Archbishop of Canterbury.