An Activist’s Spiritual Experience: Maud Gonne’s “Spirit World” in her Autobiography and Letters to Yeats
Studi Irlandesi April 10, 2025 Samanta Trivellini
Maud Gonne's spirituality and occult practices were central to her life and political activism, as revealed in her memoir and letters to W.B. Yeats. Her syncretic spirituality blended Celtic mysticism, occult practices, psychic phenomena, and Catholic faith. As an autobiographer, Gonne carefully arranged episodes and memories into a plotted narrative of personal development and life mission, even as the written self could lose all sense of proportion. This investigation expands understanding of Gonne by examining how her spiritual dimension shaped her political activism and autobiographical writing.