ABSTRACT
Francis Sedlák, Nellie Shaw’s “free union” partner, who settled in the Whiteway Colony shortly after it was founded, became Miller’s philosophical mentor and the dedicatee of his first Hegel retranslation. Sedlák’s Bohemian lifestyle, unorthodox theosophical and esoteric writings and especially his work on Hegel inspired Miller as a young man but contrast strongly with Miller’s outwardly conventional appearance and attitudes later in life. Chapter 5 draws together selected strands from Sedlák’s story to characterise the creative energy and intellectual intimacy of their friendship. Fragments of these narratives re-emerge in Miller’s Hegel translations through subtle, micro-textual reframing. Intersecting with Miller’s explicit commitment to translate Hegel more faithfully than his predecessors, the translations are therefore also performative acts of re-membrance of his earlier life, promise-fulfilment and solidarity with a socially marginalised “kindred spirit.” Miller’s position in the translations was influenced by aspects of Sedlák’s individualistic theosophy, such as his views on chastity and self-denial as a means towards spiritual and purity and philosophical truth.
