Talk about doing what it says on the tin... Introducing Swedenborg is exactly and specifically what this short essay published by the Swedenborg Society does - and no more. This is Swedenborg... I'll leave you to get acquainted... Must dash.
I've been increasingly curious about the Swedish polymath and mystic as I read more by Iain Sinclair and other psycho-geographers. And that remains the case after reading Ackroyd's book. I know a little more than I did, I will admit, but nothing significant. I have learnt about his background in Sweden, how he started out as an engineer, became director of mines and a politician in the Swedish House of Peers. I now know he spent a lot less time in London than I had thought and that Swedenborg House wasn't his actual house. I have gained an overview of his mystical writing, which is the only part of his work that keeps his name alive, but nothing specific. For example, who did he speak to when he was in the astral plane?
This may be the point. I will have to read Heaven and Hell. I will have to look deeper into the work of writers I admire who also admire Swedenborg. I was going to read more Sinclair anyway and I may even buy his Blake's London direct from the Swedenborg Society.
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