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Bring Forth the Body

1974 novel by Simon Raven

Manuscripts, fine bindings, an engraving plate and preserved performance ephemera
Arts and lettersInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJun 8, 2026
Entity authorityQ4968251
Source-derived summary

Bring Forth The Body is Volume IX of the novel sequence Alms for Oblivion by Simon Raven, published in 1974. It was the ninth novel to be published in The Alms for Oblivion sequence and is also the ninth novel chronologically. The story takes place in England in 1972.

Characters, in the order of appearance

Somerset Lloyd-James – MP and under-secretary of Lord Canteloupe. Dies right at the beginning of the book, on 10 May 1972. Major or minor character in Fielding Gray, The Rich Pay Late, Friends in Low Places, The Judas Boy, Places Where They Sing and Come Like Shadows.

Captain Detterling – MP and former captain. Partner of Gregory Stern. Makes an unofficial investigation on the death of Somerset Lloyd-James together with Leonard Percival. Major and minor character in Fielding Gray, Sound The Retreat, The Sabre Squadron, The Rich Pay Late, Friends in Low Places, The Judas Boy and Come Like Shadows.

Editorial summary

“Bring Forth the Body” enters the record as 1974 novel by Simon Raven. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Bring, Forth and Body can confirm, complicate or overturn.

Editorial reviewBest approached as a cultural-object dossier: authorship and date matter, but circulation and reception often explain the wider significance. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1974, 1972—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1974-01-01. Its strongest next move is a source search built around Bring, Forth and Body.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

“Bring Forth the Body” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Bring, Forth and Body provides the most credible route into that argument.

Evidence profile

Object files, edition statements, performance records and contemporary criticism preserve different stages of the work’s history. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 8, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q4968251. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1974 and 1972.

Critical limits

Later fame can flatten the distinction between original context, subsequent adaptation and institutional collecting history. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.

Best used for
  • Identifying works and editions
  • Tracing reception history
  • Finding collection records
Verify next

The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Bring Forth the Body”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Bring Forth the Body primary sources, Bring Forth the Body archive and Bring research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Bring Forth the Body”?
  2. Which edition, object, performance or recording is being described?
  3. How did later circulation or interpretation alter the work’s reception?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Bring Forth the Body” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.