Side Real Press's Reviews > Black Magic

The blurb for this novel says it all really, so I trust you will forgive the, hopefully not too major, spoilers that are part of my comments on this book.

The central figures are Dirk Renswoude who begins the novel as an artisan creating religious statues but is also a very able occultist/Satanist and a young scholar Thierry of Dendermonde who is also studying the black arts. They decide to join forces to use Satanism to achieve their ambitions.

There relationship is extremely homo-erotic. Bowen expends quite a lot of ink on just how beautiful these boys are, lingering over their beautiful features and lovely clothes. Dirk has an utter will to power but seemingly will not achieve this without the companionship of Thierry who, for his part is continually swearing allegence to Dirk and his plans but has agonies over whether he should be involved in black magic in the first place and his desire for the beautiful (and pure) Jacobea of Martzburg. This element of the book became wearying for me as no sooner would the boys have an argument over whether they should continue working together (Dirk usually convincing Thierry that Jacobea is a distraction and to forsake her- or else) than Thierry is off meeting her again whining on to her about how impure he is and if only he could be nice again. He really is a terrible wet blanket, but love, and destiny, are odd things.

The most interesting of the secondary players is Ysabeau, a noble with ruthless ambition for her and her husband to become rulers of the western world and who recruits Dirk to further her cause. She is pretty much the only woman (aside from a witch who aides Dirk but is quite a minor character) who has some sort of backbone. There is a lot of to-ing and fro-ing between various characters, murder, bribery, double crossing and the like, almost everyone has something to hide and is scheming in some way. The novel is very much in the style of a gothic romance, Matthew Lewis’ ‘The Monk’ or Le Fanus’s Uncle Silas’ being the touchstones.

A lot of the above happens during the first two thirds of the book and although we do have some Black Magic ceremonies, witchcraft and Saint abuse it is more suggested than writ out in bold ala Huysmans. I would much have preferred a bit more blood and thunder, although there is a wonderful subtle and atmospheric encounter with the Devil which, had all the book been written in that manner would have made it superb. I also found it quite difficult to get into stylistically, something (I don’t know what) in Bowen’s writing drags it down for me. Its not aided by her use of some ‘olde’ words such the ubiquitous ‘ye’, ‘yea’ and the more unusual ‘certes’ for ‘certainly’. We also have the odd phrasing such as ‘That will not I’ for ‘that I will not [do] ’. There are thankfully sparingly used (except ‘certes’) but are seemingly randomly used (as if she had forgotten she was using them for a few chapeters and then decided to drop some in) so their, unwelcome, re-appearances tended to jolt me away from the narrative.

I found the first two-thirds a tad tedious at times but things perk up considerably in the final third of the book which is set ten years later in Rome where we find Dirk is is now a Catholic Cardinal and about to ascend to the Papal throne. These are the End Times and there are a lot of scenes backdropped by lowering clouds and thunderstorms just like a good Universal horror film such as Frankenstein. If you like such things (I do) then this is great stuff as chickens come home to roost, everything begins to fall apart and the body count starts to rises. The scenes in the streets of Rome are especially well done (but too sparingly) and Bowen finds some touches to create the right atmosphere of fear and dread. Even the wet blanket dries out a bit. If you are charitable you might say that the end (of the book) justifies its earlier means. If one didn't have to have read the first part of the novel to understand the second I would have said 'just cut to the chase' and enjoy its air of despondency. Sadly I can't.

Bowen makes clear (at least to me) who, or what, Dirk is but there is also a glorious ambiguity within it which might, possibly, be why it has maintained a certain interest in some quarters. But I think the book as a whole is overrated. Perhaps if I didn’t have issues with her style I would have enjoyed it more but if you (like me) prefer atmosphere and action over (pah!) emotions and (pah!) romance then maybe look elsewhere for your Satanic kicks.