Writings: Introduction
Colquhoun’s love of words was first displayed in The Prose of Alchemy, (1) a celebration of the rich imagery to be found in alchemical texts. Later it appeared, perhaps unexpectedly, in the publication of a glossary of Cornish words and phrases. (2. Her essay The Mantic Stain (1949) (3) was the first article to be published in English on automatism. In addition to her one published novel she is known to have completed one other and substantially drafted a third.
Her involvement with the literary world always extended beyond that of surrealism. She established life-long friendships with writers whose own allegiance to surrealism was minimal or absent but who had some influence in the contemporary English literary avant-garde. These included J.F. Hendry, a co-editor of the New Apocalypse anthology of verse in 1939; Derek Stanford, who was named as her literary executor and whose memories of his literary life included reminiscences of Colquhoun (4), and John Bayliss, joint editor of New Road 1943. The presence of the surrealist section in New Road 1943, edited by Toni del Renzio, was influenced by the friendship between Bayliss and Colquhoun. She helped with the finances of del Renzio’s own single-issue review Arson, paying off its debts when he was threatened with bankruptcy. After moving to Cornwall she joined the West Country Writers Association and regularly took part in its activities.
In the mid 1950s Colquhoun published regularly in literary periodicals. These included the short-lived The London Broadsheet, which appeared between December 1954 and June 1955. In each of the five issues Colquhoun had a column entitled ‘Heaven and Earth’ which she devoted to short reflections on esoteric subjects, including UFOs, oneiromancy and witchcraft. The Broadsheet also published some of her poems and reproduced a drawing.
Other poems appeared in Ore, The Glass and the New Celtic Review whilst short texts appeared in Sangreal, Other Voices, and Fantasmagie. The Hermetic Journal published several notes on rarefied alchemical matters whist Prediction printed a series of more popular articles on esoteric subjects, often arising from her own personal experience.
In all, over eighty contibutions to magazines have been traced. A full listing is given in the bibliography.
Notes
1. Colquhoun, I. The Prose of Alchemy. The Quest. Vol 21 (3) April 1930 pp294-303.
2. Colquhoun, I. Cornish Earth. The Cornish Review, September 1971 No.18. pp. 57-66.
3.Colquhoun, I. The Mantic Stain. Enquiry, 2, No. 4 (October-November) 1949. pp 15-21. Reprinted in P Rosemont (ed) Surrealist Women. University of Texas Press, Austin, 1998.
4 . Stanford, D. Inside the Forties, Sidgwick and Jackson, 1977.
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