Elliot Lovegood Grant Watson (14 June 1885 – 21 May 1970) was a writer and

biologist A biologist is a scientist who conducts research in biology. Biologists are interested in studying life on Earth, whether it is an individual Cell (biology), cell, a multicellular organism, or a Community (ecology), community of Biological inter ...

. Among some 40 books and many essays and short stories he wrote six 'Australian' novels and several scientific-philosophical works that challenge

Darwinism ''Darwinism'' is a term used to describe a theory of biological evolution developed by the English naturalist Charles Darwin (1809–1882) and others. The theory states that all species of organisms arise and develop through the natural sel ...

, or the mechanism of evolutionary theory, as an entire explanation for the development of life on earth.

Biography

Born at Staines, Middlesex in England, the son of a successful London barrister, Reginald Grant Watson, and Lucy, née Fuller, a strong-minded woman with an interest in natural history and literature, 'Peter' (as he was called) visited Australia first as a child in 1890, soon after the death of his younger brother. During this visit, to relatives in Tasmania, his father also died. In rather more impoverished circumstances, Grant Watson was educated at

Bedales School Bedales School is a coeducational boarding and day public school, in the village of Steep, near the market town of Petersfield in Hampshire, England. It was founded in 1893 by Amy Garrett Badley and John Haden Badley in reaction to the li ...

and

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any ...

(B.A., 1909, with first-class honours in natural sciences) after which, at 24, he joined social anthropologist Alfred Brown (later

Alfred Radcliffe-Brown Alfred Reginald Radcliffe-Brown, FBA (born Alfred Reginald Brown; 17 January 1881 – 24 October 1955) was an English social anthropologist who helped further develop the theory of structural functionalism. He conducted fieldwork in the Andam ...

) and Daisy Bates on an ethnological expedition in Western Australia. His experiences in the desert country at Southern Cross (near

Kalgoorlie Kalgoorlie-Boulder (or just Kalgoorlie) is a city in the Goldfields–Esperance region of Western Australia, located east-northeast of Perth at the end of the Great Eastern Highway. It is referred to as Kalgoorlie–Boulder as the surroundi ...

) and at

Sandstone Sandstone is a Clastic rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...

in the Murchison region, and later at the Aboriginal lock hospitals of

Shark Bay Shark Bay () is a World Heritage Site in the Gascoyne region of Western Australia. The area is located approximately north of Perth, on the westernmost point of the Australian continent. UNESCO's listing of Shark Bay as a World Heritage S ...

, determined him to become a writer. After further travels in

Fiji Fiji, officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists of an archipelago of more than 330 islands—of which about ...

, Canada and

Ceylon Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

he enlisted in the British Army but after a mental breakdown was seconded to perform biological research with parasitologist Clifford Dobell the Burroughs-Wellcome laboratory for tropical diseases in London. Later he taught officer cadets at a private college in Storrington. On 17 July 1919 at Hampstead registry office he married Katharine Hannay. During his writing career, by nature restless, he moved between a succession of homes in the English countryside and the expatriate colonies of pre-war Florence and Paris; through Bohemian London and prohibition New York, to Palestine and the Arctic Circle, while navigating friendships with writers

Joseph Conrad Joseph Conrad (born Józef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski, ; 3 December 1857 – 3 August 1924) was a Poles in the United Kingdom#19th century, Polish-British novelist and story writer. He is regarded as one of the greatest writers in the Eng ...

Gertrude Stein Gertrude Stein (February 3, 1874 – July 27, 1946) was an American novelist, poet, playwright, and art collector. Born in Allegheny, Pennsylvania (now part of Pittsburgh), and raised in Oakland, California, Stein moved to Paris in 1903, and ...

Havelock Ellis Henry Havelock Ellis (2 February 1859 – 8 July 1939) was an English physician, eugenicist, writer, Progressivism, progressive intellectual and social reformer who studied human sexuality. He co-wrote the first medical textbook in English on h ...

, D.H. Lawrence; poets

Rupert Brooke Rupert Chawner Brooke (3 August 1887 – 23 April 1915The date of Brooke's death and burial under the Julian calendar that applied in Greece at the time was 10 April. The Julian calendar was 13 days behind the Gregorian calendar.) was an En ...

, Edward Thomas and Ferenc Békássy, the psychologist

Helton Godwin Baynes Helton Godwin Baynes, also known as ‘Peter’ Baynes (26 June 1882, Hampstead – 6 September 1943), was an English physician, army officer, analytical psychologist and author, who was a friend and early translator into English of Carl Jung. ...

Geoffrey Keynes Sir Geoffrey Langdon Keynes ( ; 25 March 1887, Cambridge – 5 July 1982, Cambridge) was a British surgeon and author. He began his career as a physician in World War I, before becoming a doctor at St Bartholomew's Hospital in London, where he ...

Mabel Dodge Luhan Mabel Evans Dodge Sterne Luhan (pronounced ''LOO-hahn''; née Ganson; February 26, 1879 – August 13, 1962) was an American patron of the arts, who was particularly associated with the Taos art colony. Early life Mabel Ganson was the heiress o ...

, naturalist

Frank Fraser Darling Sir Frank Fraser Darling FRSE (23 June 1903 – 22 October 1979) was an English ecologist, ornithologist, farmer, conservationist and author, who is strongly associated with the highlands and islands of Scotland. He gives his name to the Fraser ...

, and—in later life—

Owen Barfield Arthur Owen Barfield (9 November 1898 – 14 December 1997) was an English philosopher, author, poet, critic, and member of the Inklings. Life Barfield was born in London, to Elizabeth (née Shoults; 1860–1940) and Arthur Edward Barfield (186 ...

and

Carl Jung Carl Gustav Jung ( ; ; 26 July 1875 – 6 June 1961) was a Swiss psychiatrist, psychotherapist, and psychologist who founded the school of analytical psychology. A prolific author of Carl Jung publications, over 20 books, illustrator, and corr ...

. Grant Watson's works include fiction, nature essays (many illustrated by

Charles Tunnicliffe Charles Frederick Tunnicliffe, OBE, RA (1 December 1901 – 7 February 1979) was an internationally renowned naturalistic painter of British birds and other wildlife. He spent most of his working life on the Isle of Anglesey. He is popularly ...

), travel writing and metaphysical and philosophical studies. His Australian novels are important for their pioneering use of the desert as a metaphor for the Jungian subconscious, and prefigured aspects of the works of such Australian writers as

Katharine Susannah Prichard Katharine Susannah Prichard (4 December 18832 October 1969) was an Australian author and co-founding member of the Communist Party of Australia. Early life Prichard was born in Levuka, Fiji in 1883 to Australian parents. She spent her childhood ...

Patrick White Patrick Victor Martindale White (28 May 1912 – 30 September 1990) was an Australian novelist and playwright who explored themes of religious experience, personal identity and the conflict between visionary individuals and a materialistic, co ...

and

Randolph Stow Julian Randolph Stow (28 November 1935 – 29 May 2010) was an Australian-born writer, novelist and poet. Early life Born in Geraldton, Western Australia, Randolph Stow was the son of Mary Campbell Stow née Sewell and Cedric Ernest Stow, a ...

, particularly in their early sympathy with Aboriginal and environmental interpretations of the landscape. His autobiographical works ''But to What Purpose: The Autobiography of a Contemporary'' (1946) and ''Journey Under the Southern Stars'' (1968) give vivid accounts of his physical and intellectual journeys. In later life he also supported himself through

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

radio broadcasts, extramural university lectures and practice as a lay psychologist. Survived by his wife Katharine and two daughters Josephine and Bridget, Grant Watson died at

Petersfield Petersfield is a market town and civil parish in the East Hampshire district of Hampshire, England. It is north of Portsmouth. The town has its own Petersfield railway station, railway station on the Portsmouth Direct line, the mainline rai ...

, Hampshire, on 21 May 1970 and was buried in nearby Steep churchyard under an oak marker, intended to last only as long as an oak tree. After his death, the internationally known filmmaker Paul Cox based two feature films on his Australian works: ''The Nun and The Bandit'' (1992, based on the 1935 novel of the same name) and ''Exile'' (1994, based on the 1940 novel ''Priest Island''). A collection of his writings, ''Descent of Spirit'', edited by the Australian literary scholar Dorothy Green (Auchterlonie), was published in 1990. A biography, ''The Imago: E. L. Grant Watson & Australia'', by Suzanne Falkiner, was released by

UWA Publishing UWA Publishing, formerly known as the Text Books Board and then University of Western Australia Press, is a Western Australian publisher established in 1935 by the University of Western Australia. It produces a range of non-fiction and fiction ...

in 2011.

Selected publications

Australian novels

* ''Where Bonds are Loosed'' 1914 * ''The Mainland'' 1917 * ''The Desert Horizon'' 1923 * ''Daimon'' 1925 * ''The Nun and the Bandit'' 1935 * ''The Partners 1933 (as ''Lost Man!'' 1934 U.S.)

Other novels

* ''Deliverance'' 1920 * ''Shadow and Sunlight'' 1921 * ''Moses: the Lord of the Prophets'' 1929 * ''Moonlight in Ur'' 1932 * ''It's Up to You'' 1933 * ''Country Holiday'' 1938 (for children) * ''A Mighty Man of Valour'' 1939 * ''Priest Island'' 1940

Short stories

* Innocent Desires

Non-fiction

* ''English Country'' 1924 * ''With the Australian Aborigines'' 1930 (for children) * ''The Common Earth'' 1932 * ''Enigmas of Natural History'' 1936 (published in England) * ''Mysteries of Natural History'' 1937 (US republication of ''Enigmas of Natural History'') * ''Man and His Universe'' 1940 * ''Nature Abounding'' (ed) 1941 * ''Walking with Fancy'' 1943 * ''The Leaves Return'' 1947 * ''Profitable Wonders: Some Problems of Plant and Animal Life'' 1949 * ''What to Look for in Nature/Winter/Summer/Autumn/Spring'' 1959–61 (for children) * ''Nature's Changing Course'' 1961 * ''The Mystery of Physical Life '' 1964 * ''Animals in Splendour'' 1967

Autobiography

* ''But to What Purpose'' 1946 * ''Departures'' 1948 * ''Journey under the Southern Stars'' 1968

Poems

* ''Four Sacred Women and Other Verses'' 1960

References

External links

Guide to the Papers of E. L. Grant Watson
at

National Library of Australia The National Library of Australia (NLA), formerly the Commonwealth National Library and Commonwealth Parliament Library, is the largest reference library in Australia, responsible under the terms of the ''National Library Act 1960'' for "mainta ...

Australian Dictionary of Biography, Watson, Elliot Lovegood Grant (1885–1970)
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Watson, E. L. Grant 1885 births 1970 deaths Australian male novelists 20th-century Australian non-fiction writers Australian biologists People educated at Bedales School English emigrants to Australia 20th-century Australian novelists 20th-century Australian male writers 20th-century American biologists