Ghosts in the trenches
CATRIONA PENNELL commends a rich survey of magic, prophecy and superstitious beliefs amid the horrors of the First World War
A Supernatural War: Magic, Divination and Faith During the First World War by Owen Davies Oxford University Press, 304 pages, £20
In his 1929 play But It Still Goes On, Robert Graves – a veteran of the First World War – writes: “High-explosive barrages will make a temporary liar or visionary of anyone.” Such mistruths or apparitions, conjured amid the horror of war, could easily be dismissed by the historian as falsity and fantasy, irrelevant compared with the rigour of verifiable evidence securely stored in the archive. But as Owen Davies, an expert in witchcraft, magic and ghosts, highlights in his new book, that would leave our understanding of the sociocultural fabric of the First World War all the poorer. For “whatever the spurious or mundane origins of wartime visions, spirits and psychical experiences”, however “bizarre or fantastical”, they tell us much about both perceptions of the war and perceptions of the supernatural in the first half of the 20th century.
In what reads as a compact and succinct volume despite its 300-page length, Davies explores a breadth of divination practices of the time, including prophecies, visions, fortune telling, psychical warfare, lucky charms and faith. His concern is not to ridicule the subject matter – as highlighted by a sensitive critique of the term ‘superstition’ early on – but to explore the myriad ways a violent collective crisis like the First World War can push even the most rational of beings to transcend reason. His expertise as a scholar of magic from the ancient world to the modern age ensures that the beliefs, practices and opinions regarding the supernatural that emerge during the war are properly contextualised. Davies also draws on
an impressively wide evidence-base, both in terms of sources – incorporating soldiers’ letters, memoirs, newspaper articles, oral histories, images and objects – and non-English coverage, with material from across the UK, throughout Europe and beyond.
This is a rich and thought-provoking study of how the First World War ensured the widespread continuation of a popular belief in magic – even in the ‘modernity’ of the post-1914 age – and why this is important to our understanding of life during and after the conflict.