Bill Hopkins, The Divine and the Decay

Nicolas Tredell (Independent Scholar - Europe)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.09: English Writing and Culture: Postwar and Contemporary Britain , 1945-present.
Vol. editors: Kerry Myler (Newman University), Jenni Ramone (The Nottingham Trent University)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1957

Places

United Kingdom (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Novel

Resources

The Divine and the Decay (1957), reissued as The Leap (1984), was the first and only published novel by Bill Hopkins (1928-2011). It occupies a curious place in British literary and cultural history because its reception was embroiled in the brouhaha (partly fomented by Hopkins) around Colin Wilson (b. 1931), whose reputation was rapidly disintegrating after the initial success of The Outsider (1956). This reception will be discussed later; this entry focuses first on the novel itself.

Divine is a standard-length novel for the time (234 pp.), divided into twelve numbered but untitled chapters. In terms of genre, it is a hybrid, mixing elements of realism, gothic, fantasy, political thriller, …

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4209 words

Citation: Tredell, Nicolas. "The Divine and the Decay". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 02 June 2013 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=35018, accessed 26 November 2024.]

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