E. L. Grant Watson
Encyclopedia
Elliot Lovegood Grant Watson (14 June 1885 – 21 May 1970) was a writer
and biologist
whose works combine the scrutiny of a scientist
with the insight of the poet
. Among some 40 books and many essays and short stories he wrote six 'Australia
n' novel
s and several scientific-philosophical works that challenge Darwinism
, or the mechanism of evolutionary theory, as an entire explanation for the development of life on earth.
Born at Staines, Middlesex in England, the son of a successful London barrister, Reginald Grant Watson, and Lucy, née Fuller, a strong-minded woman with an interest in natural history and literature, 'Peter' (as he was called) visited Australia first as a child in 1890, soon after the death of his younger brother. During this visit, to relatives in Tasmania, his father also died. In rather more impoverished circumstances, Grant Watson was educated at Bedales School
and Trinity College, Cambridge
(B.A., 1909, with first-class honours in natural sciences) after which, at 24, he joined social anthropologist Alfred Brown (later Alfred Radcliffe-Brown
) and Daisy Bates on an ethnological expedition in Western Australia. His experiences in the desert country at Southern Cross (near Kalgoorlie
) and at Sandstone
in the Murchison region, and later at the Aboriginal lock hospitals of Shark Bay
, determined him to become a writer.
After further travels in Fiji
, Canada
and Ceylon
he enlisted in the British Army but after a mental breakdown was seconded to perform biological research with parasitologist Clifford Dobell the Burroughs-Wellcome laboratory for tropical diseases in London. Later he taught officer cadets at a private college in Storrington.
On 17 July 1919 at Hampstead registry office he married Katharine Hannay.
During his writing career, by nature restless, he moved between a succession of homes in the English countryside and the expatriate colonies of pre-war Florence and Paris; through Bohemian London and prohibition New York, to Palestine and the Arctic Circle, while navigating friendships with writers Joseph Conrad
, Gertrude Stein
, Havelock Ellis
, D.H. Lawrence; poets Rupert Brooke
, Edward Thomas
and Ferenc Békássy
, the psychologist Helton Godwin Baynes
, Geoffrey Keynes
, Mabel Dodge Luhan
, naturalist Frank Fraser Darling
, and—in later life—Owen Barfield
and Carl Jung.
Grant Watson’s works include fiction, nature essays (many illustrated by Charles Tunnicliffe
), travel writing and metaphysical and philosophical studies. His Australian novels are important for their pioneering use of the desert as a metaphor for the Jungian subconscious, and prefigured aspects of the works of such Australian writers as Katharine Susannah Prichard
, Patrick White
and Randolph Stow
, particularly in their early sympathy with Aboriginal and environmental interpretations of the landscape. His autobiographical works But to What Purpose: The Autobiography of a Contemporary (1946) and Journey Under the Southern Stars (1968) give vivid accounts of his physical and intellectual journeys. In later life he also supported himself as through BBC
radio broadcasts, extramural university lectures and practice as a lay psychologist.
Survived by his wife Katharine and two daughters Josephine and Bridget, Grant Watson died at Petersfield
, Hampshire, on 21 May 1970 and was buried in nearby Steep churchyard under an oak marker, intended to last only as long as an oak tree.
After his death, the internationally-known filmmaker Paul Cox
based two feature films on his Australian works, The Nun and The Bandit (1935) and Priest Island (1940). A collection of his writings, Descent of Spirit, edited by the Australian literary scholar Dorothy Green (Auchterlonie)
, was published in 1990. A biography, E. L. Grant Watson & Australia, by Suzanne Falkiner
, was released by UWA Publishing in 2011.
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
and biologist
Biologist
A biologist is a scientist devoted to and producing results in biology through the study of life. Typically biologists study organisms and their relationship to their environment. Biologists involved in basic research attempt to discover underlying mechanisms that govern how organisms work...
whose works combine the scrutiny of a scientist
Scientist
A scientist in a broad sense is one engaging in a systematic activity to acquire knowledge. In a more restricted sense, a scientist is an individual who uses the scientific method. The person may be an expert in one or more areas of science. This article focuses on the more restricted use of the word...
with the insight of the poet
Poet
A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
. Among some 40 books and many essays and short stories he wrote six 'Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n' novel
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
s and several scientific-philosophical works that challenge Darwinism
Darwinism
Darwinism is a set of movements and concepts related to ideas of transmutation of species or of evolution, including some ideas with no connection to the work of Charles Darwin....
, or the mechanism of evolutionary theory, as an entire explanation for the development of life on earth.
Born at Staines, Middlesex in England, the son of a successful London barrister, Reginald Grant Watson, and Lucy, née Fuller, a strong-minded woman with an interest in natural history and literature, 'Peter' (as he was called) visited Australia first as a child in 1890, soon after the death of his younger brother. During this visit, to relatives in Tasmania, his father also died. In rather more impoverished circumstances, Grant Watson was educated at Bedales School
Bedales School
Bedales School is a co-educational independent school situated in Hampshire, in the south east of England. Founded in 1893 by John Haden Badley in reaction to the limitations of conventional Victorian schools, today the school is one of the most expensive in the UK, charging £9,985 per term for a...
and Trinity College, Cambridge
Trinity College, Cambridge
Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Trinity has more members than any other college in Cambridge or Oxford, with around 700 undergraduates, 430 graduates, and over 170 Fellows...
(B.A., 1909, with first-class honours in natural sciences) after which, at 24, he joined social anthropologist Alfred Brown (later Alfred Radcliffe-Brown
Alfred Radcliffe-Brown
Alfred Reginald Radcliffe-Brown was an English social anthropologist who developed the theory of Structural Functionalism.- Biography :...
) and Daisy Bates on an ethnological expedition in Western Australia. His experiences in the desert country at Southern Cross (near Kalgoorlie
Kalgoorlie, Western Australia
Kalgoorlie, known as Kalgoorlie-Boulder, is a town in the Goldfields-Esperance region of Western Australia, and is located east-northeast of state capital Perth at the end of the Great Eastern Highway...
) and at Sandstone
Sandstone, Western Australia
Sandstone is a small town located in the Mid West region of Western Australia. The town is located 157 kilometres east of Mount Magnet and 661 kilometres north of the state capital, Perth...
in the Murchison region, and later at the Aboriginal lock hospitals of Shark Bay
Shark Bay
Shark Bay is a World Heritage listed bay in Western Australia. The term may also refer to:* the locality of Shark Bay, now known as Denham* Shark Bay Marine Park* Shark Bay , a shark exhibit at Sea World, Gold Coast, Australia* Shire of Shark Bay...
, determined him to become a writer.
After further travels in Fiji
Fiji
Fiji , officially the Republic of Fiji , is an island nation in Melanesia in the South Pacific Ocean about northeast of New Zealand's North Island...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
and Ceylon
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
he enlisted in the British Army but after a mental breakdown was seconded to perform biological research with parasitologist Clifford Dobell the Burroughs-Wellcome laboratory for tropical diseases in London. Later he taught officer cadets at a private college in Storrington.
On 17 July 1919 at Hampstead registry office he married Katharine Hannay.
During his writing career, by nature restless, he moved between a succession of homes in the English countryside and the expatriate colonies of pre-war Florence and Paris; through Bohemian London and prohibition New York, to Palestine and the Arctic Circle, while navigating friendships with writers Joseph Conrad
Joseph Conrad
Joseph Conrad was a Polish-born English novelist.Conrad is regarded as one of the great novelists in English, although he did not speak the language fluently until he was in his twenties...
, Gertrude Stein
Gertrude Stein
Gertrude Stein was an American writer, poet and art collector who spent most of her life in France.-Early life:...
, Havelock Ellis
Havelock Ellis
Henry Havelock Ellis, known as Havelock Ellis , was a British physician and psychologist, writer, and social reformer who studied human sexuality. He was co-author of the first medical textbook in English on homosexuality in 1897, and also published works on a variety of sexual practices and...
, D.H. Lawrence; poets Rupert Brooke
Rupert Brooke
Rupert Chawner Brooke was an English poet known for his idealistic war sonnets written during the First World War, especially The Soldier...
, Edward Thomas
Edward Thomas
Edward Thomas may refer to:People:*Edward Beers Thomas, American judge*Edward J. Thomas , librarian and author of several books on the history of Buddhism*Edward Lloyd Thomas, Confederate American Civil War general...
and Ferenc Békássy
Ferenc Békássy
Ferenc Istvan Dénes Gyula Békássy was a Hungarian poet killed in World War I.He was born in the family mansion at Zsennye in Vas County, western Hungary. He and his five siblings were sent to Bedales School for a progressive English education.After six years at Bedales, he entered King’s College,...
, the psychologist Helton Godwin Baynes
Helton Godwin Baynes
Helton Godwin Baynes, also known as ‘Peter’ Baynes was an English analytical psychologist and author, who was a friend and translator of Carl Jung....
, Geoffrey Keynes
Geoffrey Keynes
Sir Geoffrey Langdon Keynes was an English biographer, surgeon, physician, scholar and bibliophile...
, Mabel Dodge Luhan
Mabel Dodge Luhan
Mabel Evans Dodge Sterne Luhan , née Ganson was a wealthy American patron of the arts. She is particularly associated with the Taos art colony.-Early life:...
, naturalist Frank Fraser Darling
Frank Fraser Darling
Sir Frank Fraser Darling was an English ecologist, ornithologist, farmer, conservationist and author, who is strongly associated with the highlands and islands of Scotland.-Early life:...
, and—in later life—Owen Barfield
Owen Barfield
Owen Barfield was a British philosopher, author, poet, and critic.Barfield was born in London. He was educated at Highgate School and Wadham College, Oxford and in 1920 received a 1st class degree in English language and literature. After finishing his B. Litt., which became the book Poetic...
and Carl Jung.
Grant Watson’s works include fiction, nature essays (many illustrated by Charles Tunnicliffe
Charles Tunnicliffe
Charles Frederick Tunnicliffe was an internationally renowned naturalistic painter of British birds and other wildlife. He spent most of his working life on the Isle of Anglesey.-Life:...
), travel writing and metaphysical and philosophical studies. His Australian novels are important for their pioneering use of the desert as a metaphor for the Jungian subconscious, and prefigured aspects of the works of such Australian writers as Katharine Susannah Prichard
Katharine Susannah Prichard
Katharine Susannah Prichard was an Australian author and co-founding member of the Communist Party of Australia.-Biography:...
, Patrick White
Patrick White
Patrick Victor Martindale White , an Australian author, is widely regarded as an important English-language novelist of the 20th century. From 1935 until his death, he published 12 novels, two short-story collections and eight plays.White's fiction employs humour, florid prose, shifting narrative...
and Randolph Stow
Randolph Stow
Julian Randolph Stow was an Australian writer.-Life:Born in Geraldton, Western Australia, Randolph Stow attended Guildford Grammar School and the University of Western Australia. He lectured in English Literature at the University of Adelaide, the University of Western Australia and the...
, particularly in their early sympathy with Aboriginal and environmental interpretations of the landscape. His autobiographical works But to What Purpose: The Autobiography of a Contemporary (1946) and Journey Under the Southern Stars (1968) give vivid accounts of his physical and intellectual journeys. In later life he also supported himself as through BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
radio broadcasts, extramural university lectures and practice as a lay psychologist.
Survived by his wife Katharine and two daughters Josephine and Bridget, Grant Watson died at Petersfield
Petersfield
Petersfield can refer to any of the following places:*Petersfield, Hampshire, a market town in England*Petersfield, Jamaica, a small town in the parish of Westmoreland*Petersfield, Manitoba, in Canada*Petersfield, an area of Cambridge, England...
, Hampshire, on 21 May 1970 and was buried in nearby Steep churchyard under an oak marker, intended to last only as long as an oak tree.
After his death, the internationally-known filmmaker Paul Cox
Paul Cox
Paulus Henriqus Benedictus "Paul" Cox is an award-winning Australian film director.Cox was born in Venlo, Limburg, the Netherlands, the son of Else , a native of Germany, and Wim Cox, a documentary film producer. Cox emigrated to Australia in 1965...
based two feature films on his Australian works, The Nun and The Bandit (1935) and Priest Island (1940). A collection of his writings, Descent of Spirit, edited by the Australian literary scholar Dorothy Green (Auchterlonie)
Dorothy Auchterlonie
Dorothy Auchterlonie AO was an English-born Australian academic, literary critic and poet.-Life:Auchterlonie was born in Sunderland, County Durham in England...
, was published in 1990. A biography, E. L. Grant Watson & Australia, by Suzanne Falkiner
Suzanne Falkiner
Suzanne Falkiner is an Australian writer. Born in Sydney, she grew up in western New South Wales and was educated at the University of New South Wales, Columbia University and University of Technology, Sydney...
, was released by UWA Publishing in 2011.
Australian Novels
- Where Bonds are Loosed 1914
- The Mainland 1917
- The Desert Horizon 1923
- Daimon 1925
- The Nun and the Bandit 1935
- The Partners 1933 (as Lost Man! 1934 U.S.)
Other Novels
- Deliverance 1920
- Shadow and Sunlight 1921
- Moses: the Lord of the Prophets 1929
- Moonlight in Ur 1932
- It’s Up to You 1933
- Country Holiday 1938 (for children)
- A Mighty Man of Valour 1939
- Priest Island’’ 1940
Non-Fiction
- English Country 1924
- With the Australian Aborigines 1930 (for children)
- The Common Earth 1932
- Enigmas of Natural History 1936 (published in England)
- Mysteries of Natural History 1937 (US republication of Enigmas of Natural History)
- Man and His Universe 1940
- Nature Abounding (ed) 1941
- Walking with Fancy 1943
- The Leaves Return 1947
- Profitable Wonders: Some Problems of Plant and Animal Life 1949
- What to Look for in Nature/Winter/Summer/Autumn/Spring 1959-61 (for children)
- Nature’s Changing Course 1961
- The Mystery of Physical Life 1964
- Animals in Splendour 1967
Autobiography
- But to What Purpose 1946
- Departures 1948
- Journey under the Southern Stars 1968