Hermitage

Quentin S. Crisp was born in North Devon in 1972. He is the author of numerous novels and published collections of short stories. His work draws on western and Japanese traditions, spanning the supernatural, tanka poetry, and the I-novel. His first collection of fiction, The Nightmare Exhibition, appeared in 2001, followed by Morbid Tales, acclaimed as a keystone of 'the new weird', Blue on Blue, and Hamster Dam, among others. His novella Shrike was shortlisted for the Shirley Jackson Award in 2009.Quentin studied Japanese at Durham University. After graduation, he taught English in Taiwan and studied the works of Higuchi Ichiyo at Kyoto University's Faculty of Letters. In the late 2010s, he studied philosophy at Birkbeck College. He was a co-founder of and submissions editor for Chomu Press. He is also the subject of the experimental essay film, Duckweed (dir. Matthew Berka, 2024).

• The Hermitage by Quentin S. CrispThe Eternal Hermit by Nina Power

The Hermitage is a work etched on the timbrous membrane between soul and world, memory and perception. The result is disquieting music, a kind of dirge for all that's been lost and may never return. No one alive writes like Quentin S. Crisp.JF Martel, author of Reclaiming Art in the Age of ArtificeThis gently, precisely written tale is of an experience of vitality that is, at once, clearly felt and yet out of reach. Crisp raises one of the great questions of our age: How to participate in life beyond the confines of our isolated psyches? It does not provide direct answers; sometimes to know one's predicament is a first step towards change.Mark Vernon, author of A Secret History of ChristianityAs much a story as an extended meditation on what's beyond all theological musings and doctrinal disputes - namely the concrete encounter with the sacred, and how such an event will mark and shape the rest of one's life. The grey spectre of modernity, which so haunts this novella's protagonist, is revealed to be ephemeral mist when contrasted with the presence of the Mystery, which comes to meet us completely unanticipated, and which once encountered cannot be forgotten. It is a perilous thing to walk out into the marvellous landscape of rural England, for before long you may find yourself trespassing on the holy. Thereafter, entanglement in modern life will be all the more painful.Sebastian Morello, author of Mysticism, Magic, and MonasteriesA story of a mystical adventure, told in Crisp's characteristically meticulous and evocative prose. It is an absorbing and immersive read in which every detail has its significance. While moving from the remembered past to the present, it goes to the very edge of the unsayable and the silence, then reports back with great originality and candour. A highly recommended experience.Reggie Oliver, author of Mrs. MidnightThe Hermitage is thought-provoking and beautifully written, a meditation on a partly remembered, perhaps partly imagined place of refuge from the world. Crisp is one of the most beguiling, accomplished, and enjoyable writers of our generation.R. B. Russell, author of Waiting for the End of the WorldA beautiful book that can but enrich the soul of each and every reader. English Nature Mysticism receives through this novel a fresh incarnation - one that twines together the self-conscious, haunting, philosophic introspection of a socially awkward, yet humorous, protagonist awakened to new life in old places. The West Country is apotheosised through an old church, with its resident hermit rooted to its fluctuations in time, proximate to folk inns and lighter shades of folklore. Time itself plays a prominent role in this thought-provoking piece, where modern-day urbanity provides a third layer to reflections of the past, mortality, divinity, and other timeless speculations that orbit such thoughts.Peter Sjoestedt-Hughes, author of Philosophy and Psychedelics