Walter
Hubbard Owen was born July 14, 1884 in Glasgow. An importer by
profession, Owen lived in Buenos Aires for most of his life. His
published literary works include four volumes of poetry (under the
nom de plume of Gautier St Ouen), six book-length translations
from Spanish (one historical, the others long epic poems rendered
into English verse), one philosophical/historical treatise
(The Ordeal of
Christendom,
Grant Richards, 1938), and two novels. Numerous other poems,
articles, and stories remain uncollected, having been published in
Buenos Aires newspapers and rare magazines. In his spare time Owen
was also a bibliophile, a mystic, a Baconian, a Theosophist Grand
Master, and a Count of Redonda. Though a pacifist of sorts he
attempted to enlist for service on the British side during both
World Wars. Blind in one eye from a childhood accident, he was
rejected multiple times. His reputation as an author of
supernatural fiction rests upon his two novels, the first of which
was written as a result of a lengthy hospitalization in 1917. He
died Sept 24, 1953 in Buenos Aires.
THE CROSS
OF CARL,
Grant Richards (London), 1931.
ditto, Little, Brown, and Company (Boston), 1931
Carl is a
foot soldier, fighting in the trenches of World War I. Mistaken
for dead he is bundled off to a rendering plant for what we might
now term recycling. Brutal, surrealistic and bleakly anti-war, it
was first accepted for publication, then banned, in 1918. The
Cross of Carl was originally inspired by an element of anti-German
newspaper propaganda and an alleged bi-location of personality
brought upon the author by heavy dosages of opium. Aptly subtitled
"an allegory", Carl's nationality is never made wholly clear
(though German is usually inferred, based upon source materials
and several late-chapter hints). Thus the Cross of the title can
be alternately read to mean either the Iron Cross, the Victoria
Cross, or both.
MORE
THINGS IN HEAVEN, Andrew Dakers (London), 1947
A narrator
(Walter Owen) and a mystic adept named Merlin Alaska investigate a
case of Spontaneous Human Combustion. The trail of clues, found in
ancient documents, manuscripts and travelogs, leads to the
discovery of a two-thousand year old Zoroastrian curse upon the
descendants of Alexander the Great.
About
Owen:
Several
articles and appreciations of Owen were written in the decades
immediately following his death. All include errors, however, and
concentrate almost entirely upon his success as a translator. A
more fullsome biography, by Charlotte de Hartingh, was published
in 1966, but is extremely hard to find.
Many
thanks to Dwayne Olson for his help in the preparation of
this entry
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