Dennis Wheatley: Difference between revisions - Wikipedia

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{{Short description|British writer (1897–1977)}}

{{more citations needed|date=March 2013}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=AugustJanuary 20132024}}

{{Infobox writer <!-- for more information see [[:Template:Infobox writer/doc]] -->

| name = Dennis Wheatley

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| caption = Portrait by [[Allan Warren]], 1975

| pseudonym =

| birth_name = Dennis YeatsYates Wheatley

| birth_date = {{birth date|1897|1|8|df=y}}

| birth_place = [[Brixton Hill]], [[London]], [[England]]

| death_date = {{death date and age|1977|11|10|1897|1|8|df=y}}

| death_place = [[Cadogan Square]], [[Knightsbridge]], London, England

| resting_place = [[Brookwood Cemetery]], [[Brookwood, Surrey]], England

| occupation = Writer, editor<ref name="Aries 2022">{{cite journal |author-last=Doherty |author-first=Bernard |date=October 2022 |title=Black Magicians and Foreign Devils in Little Britain: Dennis Wheatley and the Invention of British Satanism |editor-last=Asprem |editor-first=Egil |journal=[[Aries (journal)|Aries]] |location=[[Leiden]] |publisher=[[Brill Publishers]] on behalf of the [[European Society for the Study of Western Esotericism]] |volume=12 |issue=1 |pages=1–29 |doi=10.1163/15700593-tat00001 |doi-access=free |s2cid=253135594 |eissn=1570-0593 |issn=1567-9896}}</ref>

| nationality = [[British people|British]]

| ethnicity =

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}}

'''Dennis YeatsYates Wheatley''' (8 January 1897 – 10 November 1977) was a [[British people|British]] writer whose prolific output of [[Thriller (genre)|thriller]]s and [[occult]] novels made him one of the world's best-selling authors from the 1930s through to the 1960s.<ref name="Aries 2022"/> His Gregory Sallust series was one of the main inspirations for [[Ian Fleming]]'s [[James Bond]] stories.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/342368/Stranger-than-fiction|title=Stranger than fiction|author=Peter Sheridan |publisher=Daily and Sunday Express (express.co.uk) |access-date=10 May 2015}}</ref>

==Early life==

Wheatley was born at 10, Raleigh Gardens, [[Brixton Hill]], London, tothe eldest of three children--and only son--of Albert David Wheatley (died 1927) and Florence Elizabeth Harriet (Baker1874-1955), Wheatley.daughter Heof was[[ironmaster]] theWilliam eldestYates Baker, of threeAspen childrenHouse, in219, theBrixton family,Hill. whichWheatley's father owned Wheatley & Son, ofa wine business in [[Mayfair]], a wine businessLondon. HeDennis admitted to having little aptitude for schooling and was later [[Expulsion (education)|expelled]] fromafter one "unhappy year"'s study at [[Dulwich College]] for allegedly forming a "secret society", as he mentions in his introduction to ''[[The Devil Rides Out]]''. Soon after his expulsion, Wheatley became a [[British Merchant Navy]] officer cadet on the training ship [[Thames Nautical Training College|HMS ''Worcester'']].<ref>{{cite ODNB | url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/display/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-31823 | doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/31823 | title=The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography | date=2004 }}</ref><ref>Burke's Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage, 103rd edition, vol. 2, ed. Charles Mosley, Burke's Peerage Ltd, 2003, p. 2890</ref><ref>The Connoisseur: An Illustrated Magazine for Collectors, Sampson Low, Marston & Co., 1901, p. 240</ref>

==Military service==

Wheatley was commissioned as a [[2nd Lieutenant]] into the [[Royal Field Artillery]] during the First World War, receiving his basic training at Biscot Camp<ref>{{cite web |last1=Biscot|title=War Diary|url=http://www.worldwar1luton.com/object/c-battery-war-diary-march-1917 |work=World War One: Great War Stories |publisher=Luton Culture (worldwar1luton.com) |access-date=8 September 2014 }}</ref> in [[Luton]]. He was assigned to the [[City of London Brigade]] and the [[36th (Ulster) Division]].<ref name=timesobit>{{cite news |title=Mr Dennis Wheatley |newspaper=[[The Times]] |location=London|date=12 November 1977|page=16}}</ref> WheatleyDennis was gassed in a [[Chemical warfare|chlorine]] attack during [[Battle of Passchendaele|Passchendaele]] and was invalided out, having served in [[Flanders]], on the [[Ypres Salient]], and in France at [[Cambrai]] and [[Saint-Quentin, Aisne|Saint-Quentin]].

In 1919 he took over management of the family's wine business. In 1931, however, after his father's death, and with business hadhaving declined because of the [[Great Depression]], he sold the firm and began writing.<ref name=timesobit/> In 1930, his widowed mother married [[Sir Louis Newton, 1st Baronet]], [[Lord Mayor of London]] 1923–24.<ref>Burke's Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage, 103rd edition, vol. 2, ed. Charles Mosley, Burke's Peerage Ltd, 2003, p. 2890</ref>

During the Second World War Wheatley was a member of the [[London Controlling Section]], which secretly coordinated strategic military deception and cover plans. His literary talents led to his working with planning staffs for the War Office. He wrote numerous papers for them, including suggestions for dealing with a possible Nazi invasion of Britain (recounted in his works ''Stranger than Fiction'' and ''The Deception Planners''). The most famous of his submissions to the [[Joint Planning Staff]] of the war cabinet was on "Total War". He received a direct commission in the JP Service as a [[Wing Commander (rank)|Wing Commander]], [[Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve|RAFVR]], and took part in the plans for the [[Normandy invasion]]s. After the war Wheatley was awarded the U.S. [[Bronze Star]] for his role in the warSecond effortWorld War.

==Writing career==

His first book, ''Three Inquisitive People'', was not published when completed, but came out later, in 1940. However, his next novel made quite a splash. Called ''[[The Forbidden Territory]]'', it was an immediate success when issued by Hutchinson in 1933, being reprinted seven times in seven weeks. After finishing ''The Fabulous Valley'', Wheatley decided to use the theme of black magic for his next book. He wrote: "The fact that I had read extensively about ancient religions gave me some useful background, but I required up-to-date information about occult circles in this country. My friend, [[Tom Driberg]], who then lived in a mews flat just behind us in Queen's Gate, proved most helpful. He introduced me to [[Aleister Crowley]], the Reverend [[Montague Summers]] and Rollo Ahmed."<ref>''The Time Has Come: The Memoirs of Dennis Wheatley (Vol 3) 1919-19771919–1977: Drink and Ink'', p. 131.</ref> The release the next year of his occult story, ''[[The Devil Rides Out]]''—hailed by [[James Hilton (novelist)|James Hilton]] as "the best thing of its kind since ''[[Dracula]]''"—cemented his reputation as "The Prince of Thriller Writers."

Wheatley mainly wrote adventure novels, with many books in a series of linked works. Background themes included the [[French Revolution]] (the ''[[Roger Brook]]'' series), [[Satanism]] (the ''[[Duke de Richleau]]'' series), [[World War II]] (the ''Gregory Sallust'' series) and espionage (the ''Julian Day'' novels). Over time, each of his major series would include at least one book pitting the hero against some manifestation of the supernatural - makingsupernatural—making them into [[fantasy]] and specifically [[contemporary fantasy]]. He came to be considered an authority on [[Satanism]], the practice of [[exorcism]], and [[black magic]], toward all of which he expressed hostility. During his study of the [[paranormal]], though, he joined [[the Ghost Club]].

In many of his works, Wheatley wove in interactions between his characters and actual historical events and individuals. For example, in the ''Roger Brook'' series the main character involves himself with [[Napoleon]] and [[Joséphine de Beauharnais|Joséphine]] whilst [[spy]]ing for Prime Minister [[William Pitt the Younger]]. Similarly, in the ''Gregory Sallust'' series, Sallust shares an evening meal with [[Hermann Göring]]. In "''They Used Dark Forces"'', the penultimatelast book of the Sallust serieswar-time sequence, Göring gets a surprisingly positive depiction as an honorablehonourable man who disliked the systematic killing of the Jews (though not actually doing anything to stop it) and who wanted to end the war when realizing that Germany was doomed to lose it; Göring is contrasted with [[Joseph Goebbels|Goebbels]], who according to Wheatley "was on the extreme left" and "took seriously the Socialist part of National Socialism".

During the 1930s, Wheatley conceived a series of mysteries, presented as case files, including testimonies, letters, and pieces of evidence such as hairs or pills. The reader had to inspect this evidence to solve the mystery before unsealing the last pages of the file, which gave the answer. Four of these 'Crime Dossiers' were published: ''Murder Off Miami'', ''Who Killed Robert Prentice?'', ''The Malinsay Massacre'', and ''Herewith The Clues!''.

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In the 1960s, Hutchinson was selling a million copies of his books per year, and most of his titles were kept available in hardcover. A few of his books were made into films by [[Hammer Horror|Hammer]], of which the best known is ''[[The Devil Rides Out]]'' (book 1934, [[The Devil Rides Out (film)|film]] 1968). Wheatley also wrote non-fiction works, including an account of the [[Russian Revolution of 1917|Russian Revolution]], a life of [[Charles II of England|King Charles II of England]], and several autobiographical volumes.

[[File:Dennis Wheatley Grave Brookwood.jpg|thumb|right|Wheatley's grave in [[Brookwood Cemetery]]]]

He edited several collections of short stories, and from 1974 throughto 1977, he supervised a series of 45 paperback reprints for the British publisher Sphere with the heading "The Dennis Wheatley Library of the Occult", selecting the titles and writing short introductions for each book. These included both occult-themed novels by the likes of [[Bram Stoker]] and [[Aleister Crowley]] (with whom he once shared a lunch) and non-fiction works on [[magic (paranormal)|magic]], [[occultism]], and [[divination]] by authors such as the [[Theosophist]] [[H. P. Blavatsky]], the historian Maurice Magre, the magician [[Isaac Bonewits]], and the [[palmistry|palm-reader]] [[Cheiro]].

Two weeks before his death in November 1977, Wheatley received conditional [[absolution]] from his old friend [[Cyril Eastaugh|Cyril 'Bobby' Eastaugh]], the [[Bishop of Peterborough]]. He was cremated at [[Tooting]] and his ashes interred at the South Cemetery section of [[Brookwood Cemetery]], under a tall tree near the entrance. He is also commemorated on the Baker/YeatsYates family monument at [[West Norwood Cemetery]].

His estate library was sold in a catalogue sale by [[Basil Blackwell]]'s in 1979. It suggested a well-read individual with wide-ranging interests, particularly with respect to historical fiction and Europe.

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==Posthumous publication==

From 1972 to 1977 (the year of his death), 52 of Dennis Wheatley's novels were offered in a uniform hardcover set by Heron Books UK. (This was in addition to Hutchinson's own "Lymington" library edition, published from 1961 to 1979.) Having brought each of his major fictional series to a close with the final Roger Brook novel, Wheatley then turned to his memoirs. These were announced as five volumes, but never completed, and were eventually only published as three books, the (fourth) volume concerning the Second World War issued as a separate title. His availability and influence declined following his death, partly owing to difficulties of reprinting his works because of copyright problems.

In 1998 [[Justerini & Brooks]] celebrated their upcoming 250th anniversary by revising his last work about their house, "''The Eight Ages of Justerini's"'' (1965) and re-issuing it as "''The Nine Ages of Justerini's"''. The revision by Susan Keevil brought the history up to date.

Wheatley's literary estate was acquired by media company Chorion in April 2008, and several titles were reissued in Wordsworth paperback editions. A new hardcover omnibus of Black Magic novels was released by Prion in 2011.

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* ''They Found Atlantis'' [Camilla and others] ([[Lost World (genre)|Lost World]], January 1936)

* ''Uncharted Seas'' [([[Lost World (genre)|Lost World]]] (January 1938) ([[The Lost Continent (1968 film)|filmed in 1968]])

* ''Sixty Days to Live'' (X). [LaviniaLavina Leigh and others] (End of the world, August 1939)

* ''The Man Who Missed the War'' (X). [Philip Vaudell] ([[Lost World (genre)|Lost World]], (November 1945)

* ''Star of Ill-Omen'' (X). [Kem Lincoln] (Aliens, May 1952)

===Adventure/espionage novels===

* ''Such Power is Dangerous'' [Avril Bamborough] (Adventure, ([[Lost World (genre)|Lost World]] June 1933)

* ''The Fabulous Valley'' [The Heirs of John Thomas Long] (Adventure, August 1934)

* ''[[The Eunuch of Stamboul]]'' [Swithin Destime] (Espionage, July 1935) – filmed in 1936 as ''[[Secret of Stamboul]]''

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===Short story collections===

* ''Mediterranean Nights'' There are three versions of this collection. The original version was issued in 1943, and was reprinted several times. It had 21 stories. Version two, an Arrow paperback edition, contained an introduction and six new stories: "The Worm That Turned", "The Last Card", "A Bowler Hat for Michael", "The Suspect", "Murder in the Pentagon" and "The Pick-up". The story in version one called 'The Terrorist' is omitted, making 26 stories in all. Version three appeared in the Lymington Edition of Wheatley's works in 1965. It has an abridged version of the introduction to version two. It includes all the stories in version two, and restores "The Terrorist" from version one, for a total of 27 stories.

* ''Gunmen, Gallants and Ghosts'' (X). There are also three versions of this collection. The original version was issued in 1943, and was reprinted several times. It hashad 17 stories. Version two came out in the Arrow paperback edition, 1963 and later. It omits the "Bombing of London" written for [[Alfred Hitchcock]], and adds one story "In the Fog", and two items which are collections of articles, "Voodoo" and "Black Magic", for a total of 19 stories/items. It has a new introduction, identical to the one in version two of ''Mediterranean Nights''. Version three appeared in the Lymington Edition of Wheatley's works in 1965. It has a brief new introduction, made up mostly of material removed from the intro to version two of ''MN'' to make the intro to version three of ''MN''. It includes all items from version two, and restores the "Bombing of London", for a total of 20 items.

===Non-fiction===

* ''Old Rowley: A Private Life of Charles II'' (September 1933)

* ''Red Eagle: The Story of the Russian Revolution and of Klementy Efremovitch Voroshilov, Marshal and Commissar for Defence of the Union of Socialist Soviet Republics'' (October 1937)

* ''The Devil and all his Works'' (September 1971)

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* ''The Eight Ages of Justerini's (1749–1965)'' (1965)

* ''The Nine Ages of Justerini's: A Celebration of 250 Years'' (1998, revised and updated by Susan Keevil)

* ''Julie's Lovers'' (2022)

* ''Dennis Wheatley: An Unpublished Miscellany'' (2023)

===Crime dossiers (with J. G. Links)===

* ''Murder off Miami'' (July 1936)

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* ''Blockade'' (1939)

* ''Alibi'' (1953)

==Influence==

His Gregory Sallust series has been claimed as an inspiration for [[Ian Fleming]]'s [[James Bond]] stories.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/342368/Stranger-than-fiction|title=Stranger than fiction|author=Peter Sheridan |date=28 August 2012 |publisher=Daily and Sunday Express (express.co.uk) |access-date=10 May 2015}}</ref>

==Film adaptations==

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==Further reading==

{{portal|Speculative fiction}}

* Wisker, Gina. "Horrors and Menaces to Everything Decent in Life: the Horror Fiction of Dennis Wheatley". In Clive Bloom, ed. ''Creepers: British Horror and Fantasy in the Twentieth Century''. London & Boulder CO: Pluto Press, 1993, pp.&nbsp;99–110.

==External links==

{{commons category}} {{portal|Speculative fiction}}

* [http://www.denniswheatley.info DennisWheatley.info]

*[http://www.abfar.co.uk/bibliogs/dw_bib.html Biography]

*[http://www.trashfiction.co.uk/wheatley_00.html Discussion of The Dennis Wheatley Library of the Occult]

*[http://www.martinedwardsbooks.com/dossier.htm Article on Dennis Wheatley] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110714043110/http://www.martinedwardsbooks.com/dossier.htm |date=14 July 2011 }}

*[httphttps://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/32693/blockade Wheatley's 1939 game 'Blockade']

*{{IMDb name|id=0923676|name=Dennis Wheatley}}

*{{isfdbISFDB name|4379|Dennis Wheatley}}

* {{LCAuth|n80034916|Dennis Wheatley|119|ue}}