CARPENTER, Edward From Adam's Peak to Elephanta. Sketches in Ceylon and India. ~i~London, Swan Sonnenschein,~/i~ 1892.
8vo. Original illustrated cloth; pp. [2], xvi, [3]-363 (complete); frontispiece (in pagination) and several illustrations after photographs in the text; a near-fine copy.
'Edward Carpenter was a pioneering socialist and radical prophet of a new age of fellowship in which social relations would be transformed by a new spiritual consciousness. The way he lived his life, perhaps even more than his extensive writings, was the essence of his message. It is perhaps not surprising that his reputation faded quickly after his death, as he lived much of his life modestly spreading his message by personal contact and example rather than by major literary works or through a national political career. He has been described as having that unusual combination of qualities: charisma with modesty. His ideas became immensely influential during the early years of the Socialist movement in Britain: perhaps Carpenter's most widely remembered legacy to the Socialist and Co-operative movements was his anthem England Arise! But it is his writings on the subject of homosexuality and his open espousal of this identity that makes him unique … Another important strand of Carpenter's thought also had its roots in these years: his study of eastern religions, particularly the Bhagavad-Gita. During the 1880's there was much discussion of Eastern mysticism, particularly with the rise of the Theosophical movement. Carpenter became determined to discover more about Hindu thought, direct from its source, and in 1890 he fulfilled a long-held ambition and travelled to Ceylon and India to spend time with the Hindu teacher called Gnani, who he describes, along with his Indian travels, in the book Adam's Peak to Elephanta~/i~' (Simon Dawson, The Edward Carpenter Archive~/i~, online. His writing on Hindhu spitituality influenced Peter Ouspensky's thought, especially his ~i~Tertium Organon~/i~.
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