Before we begin to analyse Fortune’s novels in depth, it will be useful to take a step back and establish what, precisely, we mean by initiation, and what the relationship is between literature, initiation, and the imagination. In this chapter I will explore some of the ways that scholars have attempted to define, conceptualise, and explain the phenomenon of initiation. I will consider a variety of critical approaches to initiation and its relationship with literature and present some of the theoretical concepts informing Fortune’s initiatory project. George Weckman, writing in 1970 to summarise academic approaches to initiation, argued that ‘the phenomenon of initiation is one of the most persistent and ubiquitous aspects of religion. Like religion itself, however, a single definition which can apply to all instances and ramifications has proved very difficult to achieve.’ Though half a century old, Weckman’s article still offers a useful way to orient ourselves within a complex field. His analysis is especially significant because many contemporary surveys of initiation have focused exclusively on it as a phenomenon of ritual practice, losing sight of what Weckman calls the psychogenic aspect of initiation. Weckman discusses four kinds of scholarly approach to initiation: sociogenic approaches that centralise ‘the notion that these rites reinforce social values’ (such as Durkheim); psychogenic approaches that emphasise ‘the meaning of the symbolism or mythology of transformation’ (such as those of Jung, Henderson, and Bettelheim); structural approaches that focus on ‘the structure of the rite’ particularly the idea of ‘transition’ (including van Gennep and Bell); and finally integrative approaches that explore the structure, not only of the rite itself, ‘but of the whole situation, social and symbolic.’ Weckman positions himself within this final category, as does this current research.