DL/A-Z//INGLIS B - [Correspondence with Brian Inglis]
Reference code
DL/A-Z//INGLIS B
Level of description
File
Title
[Correspondence with Brian Inglis]
Date/s
08/03/1986-13/02/1993
Quantity & Format
3 Letters (typescript)
1 Notes (MS)
1 Article
2 Press cuttings
1 Notes (MS)
1 Article
2 Press cuttings
Corporate name
Octagon Press
Personal name
Shah, Idries
Koestler, Arthur, 1905-1983
Koestler, Arthur, 1905-1983
Creator
Inglis, Brian
Scope and content
001 is a letter from Brian Inglis to Doris Lessing concerning the recent double suicide of his friend Arthur Koestler and Koestler's wife Cynthia Jefferies. He states that it was a "shock", mostly because of Jefferies's "opting to go, too." He speculates that she may have had an unrevealed illness.
002 is a letter from Lessing to Inglis, declining to participate in production of a book connected to Inglis's interest in the paranormal. Lessing cites her Sufism as a reason not to "make a big thing out of what are regarded as incomplete, sporadic and often inflamed-by-imagination experiences of this kind". She claims an interest in [mystical] processes, not incidents, and dismisses the paranormal happenings that are of interest to Inglis as "silly". She makes light of twice misspelling the word "sync".
003 is a handwritten note from Inglis to Lessing enclosing his contribution to a "new Sufi/healing Journal". He states that he had Lessing in mind while writing it.
004 is an article by Inglis criticising the dismissive attitude of Sufis towards supernatural phenomena as giving "help and comfort to the common, rationalist enemy". Mentions incombustability and David Hume.
005 is a letter from Lessing to Inglis written in response to 003 and 004. She states that there is a long list of Sufi literature concerning "miracles" that Inglis has not read. She cites Idries Shah. She states that Sufis do not care about the opinions of "illinformed spectators", so have no interest in engaging with the "rationalist enemy" to which Inglis refers. She advances the personal opinion that people should not delve too deeply into the paranormal because humanity is so "destructive, murderous, and self-seeking". She recommends Ernest Scott's The People of the Secret.
006 and 007 are obituaries of Ingis, published on 13/02/1993. 006 is from the Times and 007 is from the Independent.
002 is a letter from Lessing to Inglis, declining to participate in production of a book connected to Inglis's interest in the paranormal. Lessing cites her Sufism as a reason not to "make a big thing out of what are regarded as incomplete, sporadic and often inflamed-by-imagination experiences of this kind". She claims an interest in [mystical] processes, not incidents, and dismisses the paranormal happenings that are of interest to Inglis as "silly". She makes light of twice misspelling the word "sync".
003 is a handwritten note from Inglis to Lessing enclosing his contribution to a "new Sufi/healing Journal". He states that he had Lessing in mind while writing it.
004 is an article by Inglis criticising the dismissive attitude of Sufis towards supernatural phenomena as giving "help and comfort to the common, rationalist enemy". Mentions incombustability and David Hume.
005 is a letter from Lessing to Inglis written in response to 003 and 004. She states that there is a long list of Sufi literature concerning "miracles" that Inglis has not read. She cites Idries Shah. She states that Sufis do not care about the opinions of "illinformed spectators", so have no interest in engaging with the "rationalist enemy" to which Inglis refers. She advances the personal opinion that people should not delve too deeply into the paranormal because humanity is so "destructive, murderous, and self-seeking". She recommends Ernest Scott's The People of the Secret.
006 and 007 are obituaries of Ingis, published on 13/02/1993. 006 is from the Times and 007 is from the Independent.
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DL - Doris Lessing Archive
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DL/2008 - Doris Lessing Archive 2008 deposit
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DL/A-Z - [A-Z Correspondence of Doris Lessing]
- DL/A-Z//INGLIS B - [Correspondence with Brian Inglis]
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DL/A-Z - [A-Z Correspondence of Doris Lessing]
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DL/2008 - Doris Lessing Archive 2008 deposit