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A review by butterfike
All Hallows' Eve by Charles Williams
1.0
Lots of anti-Semitic tropes and not a lot of interesting theology. I loved Descent Into Hell and I really like what I think Williams often tries to do by marrying traditional Christianity with mysticism. But this felt like a huge swing and a miss. Namely because it felt overly simplistic and unwilling to explore the complexities of the mysticism it focused on.
The villain is often referred to as “The Jew” (which… yikes) and is contrasted regularly with “that other Jew” (Christ). Hard not to feel like there’s a very clear duality between “good” Jewish people and bad. And the difference seems to lie in a very misguided understanding of Kabbalah—a Jewish mystic philosophy that many Jewish people still revere today—and the worn, anti-Semitic belief that if you’re not a Jewish person who believes in the resurrection (i.e. a Christian… not a Jew) then you’re lost. Reading Williams’s take on this “bad magic” and lost souls felt a lot like reading a Christian mom’s recital of one of the Harry Potter books she’s never read. And then there’s a lot of talk about the characters viewing the Jewishness of the villain’s face, the villain’s obsession with controlling the world, etc. Just hard to read this post-WWII novel and not think “oh no, this is really really bad.”
Also nothing close to the beauty of the Doctrine of Substituted Love or the like. Really just felt like an over-zealous and confused retelling of a Revelation tale. Wasn’t about it. Wouldn’t recommend it. And don’t feel bad about the one star since homeboy is dead. Pick up a copy of Descent Into Hell and only delve into this one if you need a swift reminder that no author should be considered a hero outside his time.
The villain is often referred to as “The Jew” (which… yikes) and is contrasted regularly with “that other Jew” (Christ). Hard not to feel like there’s a very clear duality between “good” Jewish people and bad. And the difference seems to lie in a very misguided understanding of Kabbalah—a Jewish mystic philosophy that many Jewish people still revere today—and the worn, anti-Semitic belief that if you’re not a Jewish person who believes in the resurrection (i.e. a Christian… not a Jew) then you’re lost. Reading Williams’s take on this “bad magic” and lost souls felt a lot like reading a Christian mom’s recital of one of the Harry Potter books she’s never read. And then there’s a lot of talk about the characters viewing the Jewishness of the villain’s face, the villain’s obsession with controlling the world, etc. Just hard to read this post-WWII novel and not think “oh no, this is really really bad.”
Also nothing close to the beauty of the Doctrine of Substituted Love or the like. Really just felt like an over-zealous and confused retelling of a Revelation tale. Wasn’t about it. Wouldn’t recommend it. And don’t feel bad about the one star since homeboy is dead. Pick up a copy of Descent Into Hell and only delve into this one if you need a swift reminder that no author should be considered a hero outside his time.