Research in the Field: Ada Goodrich Freer and Fiona Macleod
Second Sight in the Nineteenth Century 2017 DOI: 10.1057/978-1-137-51970-2_6 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Historical analysis Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Key points | Argues that the SPR's investigation into second sight was intertwined with the Celtic Revival's rediscovery of folk culture and mysticism at the fin de siècle. |
Abstract
This chapter examines the investigation into second sight undertaken by the Society for Psychical Research (SPR) in the closing decade of the nineteenth century. Focusing on its chief researcher, Ada Goodrich-Freer, and on her claim to possess ‘Celtic’ blood, Richardson finds a corollary for this desire for identification and proximity in the contemporaneous Celtic Revival. Reading the SPR’s inquiry alongside the rediscovery of folk culture and mysticism at the fin de siècle , it spends time with William Sharp, a Scottish-born lawyer, published poet and member of the occultist Order of the Golden Dawn, who also wrote under a female pseudonym ‘Fiona Macleod’. This chapter examines second sight in relation to the interconnected narratives of psychical research, occultism and revivalism.