The Light Invisible [Paperback]

Robert Hugh Benson (Author), Michael D. Greaney (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 5, 2005

The Light Invisible presents a series of interconnected supernatural short stories by the celebrated and prolific English author Robert Hugh Benson (1871-1914), a member of the famed Benson literary clan. The author's brother Arthur remarked of this volume, "The Light Invisible always seemed to me a beautiful book .... It was the first book in which he spread his wings, and there is, I think, a fresh and ingenuous beauty about it, as of a delighted adventure among new faculties and powers." Robert Hugh Benson enjoyed a career that lasted little over a decade. In addition to a great many non-fiction works, he authored a series of twenty novels and short story collections that combined a specific moral orientation with an astonishing popularity among the general public of the early twentieth century. As an Anglican and later a Catholic priest, Father Benson was in great demand as a speaker in both England and the United States. The most sensational English convert from the Anglican Communion to Catholicism since John Henry Newman, Benson was a son of the Archbishop of Canterbury. He wrote from a Catholic perspective, but with real understanding and sympathy for the Protestant position.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

Father John A. Hardon, S.J., "specially recommends" THE LIGHT INVISIBLE in his book, THE CATHOLIC LIFETIME READING PLAN. The READING PLAN is a list of one hundred authors and their most important works designed to serve as a guide for Catholics seeking to enrich their cultural and spiritual lives. Father Hardon gives primacy of place to THE LIGHT INVISIBLE among the books by Father Benson he recommends.

THE LIGHT INVISIBLE marks the beginning of a delightful journey for any fan of serious, yet easy-to-read fiction. The collection is long enough to enjoy as a full meal in itself, yet short enough to whet the appetite for more — and there was more to come. Father Benson’s conversion seems to have provided the inspiration for a series of rapidly written yet hard-hitting novels that, nonetheless, never fail to entertain. There were to be, ultimately, eighteen novels, two short story collections, four plays and a volume of poetry — to say nothing of his significant output of non-fiction — and all this in the space of barely ten years.

From the Author

The popularity of the book — or rather, the classes of persons who, respectively, like and dislike the book — appears to me rather significant. It still sells very considerably amongst Anglicans; and, to a very much lesser degree, among Catholics. It is, of course, also perfectly natural that a certain type of Anglican should enjoy shaking his head over my sad deterioration, both literary and spiritual, since I left the Church of England; but, even apart from this controversial device, it is quite true that Anglicans, as a class, prefer it infinitely to anything else that I have ever written.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 112 pages
• Publisher: Once and Future Books (May 5, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0972982167
• ISBN-13: 978-0972982160
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.4 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,012,398 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good, Quick Read, October 2, 2007

By 

Timothy C. Mahowald (St. Louis, MO) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Light Invisible (Paperback)

This book was not what I was expecting, but a great addition to the library of any Catholic Literature collector. A slightly different style for Benson, The Light Invisible is a collection of stories in the life of a friend of his, related entirely second-hand. The individual stories tell of preternatural and seemingly supernatural experiences, told from a subtly Catholic-undertoned viewpoint. Like all of Benson's works, the undertones are what distinguish the book from so many others available because, while the story is being told, the reader is being told something on the surface while at the same time being given a sublime understanding of the intent of the story from the cozy perspective of the author. Ingenius writing from a brilliant author in his typically clever prose.