Shadows of Ecstasy

The visionary masterpiece about a spiritual magician who seeks military domination with his deceptive message of love. A humanistic adept has discovered that by focusing his energies inward he can extend his life almost indefinitely. He undertakes an experiment, using African lore, to die and resurrect his own body, thereby assuring his immortality. His followers begin a revolutionary movement to destroy European civilization. Charles Wiilliams had a genius for choosing strange and exciting themes for his novels and making them believable and profoundly suggestive of spiritual truths. Shadows of Ecstasy tells of a mysterious invasion that threatens Europe from Africa. United in a fanatic crusade against death, the spiritual powers of the "Dark Continent" rise up with exultant paganism. Charles Williams-novelist, poet, critic, dramatist and biographer-died in his native England in May, 1945. He had a lively and devoted following there and achieved a considerable reputation as a lecturer on the faculty of Oxford University. T.S. Eliot, Dorothy Sayers and C.S. Lewis were among his distinguished friends and literary sponsors.