C. E. Bechhofer Roberts Explained

C. E. Bechhofer Roberts
Birth Date:21 November 1894
Birth Place:London, England
Death Date:14 December 1949
Occupation:Barrister, journalist, psychical researcher, writer

Carl Eric Bechhofer Roberts (21 November 1894 – 14 December 1949) was a British author, barrister, and journalist.[1]

Biography

Roberts was born and raised in London but relocated to Germany to study classics. He worked as a professional writer, producing works on travel, biography, criminology, fiction, paranormal, translation and drama.[2] He contributed to The New Age magazine.[3]

During World War I he was a trooper of the 9th Lancers. He met Grigori Rasputin during a visit in Saint Petersburg.[4]

Roberts met Gurdjieff in Tiflis in 1919. His book In Denikin's Russia and the Caucasus, 1919-1920 (1921) contained the first description of Gurdjieff published in English.[5] His 1928 novel This Side Idolatry (by the pseudonym "Ephesian") was the first public presentation of the relationship between Charles Dickens and the actress Ellen Ternan.[6]

He was private secretary to Lord Birkenhead (1924-1930).[7] His books were recommended by George Orwell.[8]

Roberts died in a motor accident in December 1949.[4]

Psychical research

Roberts took interest in psychical research and spiritualism, but approached these subjects from a mostly skeptical position.

He was the author of The Mysterious Madame: A Life of Madame Blavatsky (1931), a highly critical biography of Helena Blavatsky. In his book The Truth about Spiritualism (1932) he came to the conclusion that there is no evidence for the spirit hypothesis in mediumship. According to the research of Roberts all séance and spiritualist phenomena can be explained by "telepathy, self-deception, fraud or neurosis".[9]

Roberts was convinced that the medium Helen Duncan was a fraud and wrote a foreword to the book The Trial of Mrs. Duncan (1945) by Helena Normanton.[10]

Publications

Non-fiction

Fiction

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. [H. L. Mencken|Mencken, Henry Louis]
  2. Web site: C. E. Bechhofer Roberts (1894-1949). . 24 April 2013 . https://web.archive.org/web/20120907075847/http://www.modjourn.org/render.php?id=mjp.2005.01.003&view=mjp_object . 7 September 2012 . dead .
  3. Murry, John Middleton. (1983). The Letters of John Middleton Murry to Katherine Mansfield. Constable. p. 163
  4. Anonymous. Kissed by Rasputin. Yorkshire Evening Post. 15 December 1949.
  5. http://www.gurdjieff.org/roberts.htm The Forest Philosophers by C. E. Bechhofer Roberts.
  6. Book: The Oxford Companion to Charles Dickens. Anniversary. Schlicke, Paul. 978-0-19-964018-8. 2011. Oxford University Press.
  7. Anonymous. Events at Home and Abroad: And Some People in the New. Illustrated London News. 24 December 1949. p. 993
  8. Deer, Patrick. (2009). Culture in Camouflage: War, Empire, and Modern British Literature. Oxford University Press. p. 272.
  9. The Saturday Review of Politics, Literature, Science and Art 154 (1932). J. W. Parker and Son. p. 541.
  10. Book: Normanton, Helena. 1945. The Trial of Mrs. Duncan. Jarrolds Publishers Limited. 9–25.

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