Esoteric Islam in Modern French Thought: Massignon, Corbin, Jambet (New Directions in Religion and Literature)

"Why would a devout Catholic, a committed Protestant, and a Maoist atheist devote their lives and work to the study of esoteric aspects of Islam? How are these aspects 'good to think with'? What are the theoretical and intellectual problems to which they provide solutions? These are the questions at the heart of Esoteric Islam in Modern French Thought. The three French specialists of Islam described above form an intellectual and personal genealogy that structures the core of the text: Massignon taught Corbin, who taught Jambet in his turn. Each of them found in the esoteric a solution to otherwise insurmountable problems: desire for Massignon, certainty for Corbin, and resurrection/immortality for Jambet. Over the course of three long chapters focused on the life and work of each writer, the book maps the central place of esoteric Islam in the intellectual life of twentieth and twenty-first century France"-- Provided by publisher Cover page Halftitle page Series page Title page Copyright page Contents Acknowledgements Abbreviations, Transliterations and Translations Introducing the Guest 1 Louis Massignon: In the Beginning Was Desire1 Truth: Visitation and Expression Desire as Alpha and Omega Language and Hospitality From Anā al- H ̇aqq to Satyagraha Witness and Human Rights Conclusion 2 Henry Corbin: A Certain Vision Corbin Translates Heidegger Lessons in Vision Visionary Hermeneutics I: Initiations Visionary Hermeneutics II: Spiritual Chivalry 3 Christian Jambet’s Resurrections Beginnings Alamūt Making It Last: Mullā S.adrā Conclusion EPILOGUE On Being True to Oneself: Esoteric Authenticities Bibliography Index Focussing on the many exchanges and the rich relationships that these intersections have created from the modernist to the postmodernist period, this book covers such writers, thinkers and artists as Jacques Derrida, Joris-Karl Huysmans, Salman Rushdie, Doris Lessing and Philip K Dick. Introducing the Guest -- 1. Louis Massignon: In the Beginning Was Desire -- 2. Henry Corbin: A Certain Vision -- 3. Christian Jambet's Resurrections -- Epilogue: One Being True to Oneself: Esoteric Authenticities -- Bibliography -- Index