The Occult in Modernist Art, Literature, and Cinema (Palgrave Studies in New Religions and Alternative Spiritualities)

Many modernist and avant-garde artists and authors were fascinated by the occult movements of their day. This volume explores how Occultism came to shape modernist art, literature, and film. Individual chapters examine the presence and role of Occultism in the work of such modernist luminaries as Rainer Maria Rilke, August Strindberg, W.B. Yeats, Joséphin Péladan and the artist Jan Švankmaier, as well as in avant-garde film, post-war Greek Surrealism, and Scandinavian Retrogardism. Combining the theoretical and methodological foundations of the field of Esotericism Studies with those of Literary Studies, Art History, and Cinema Studies, this volume provides in-depth and nuanced perspectives upon the relationship between Occultism and Modernism in the Western arts from the nineteenth century to the present day. Front Matter ....Pages i-xii Introduction: Conceptualizing Occult Modernism (Tessel M. Bauduin, Henrik Johnsson)....Pages 1-29 A History of Research into Occult Modernist Literature (Henrik Johnsson)....Pages 31-45 Front Matter ....Pages 47-47 Visionary Mimesis and Occult Modernism in Literature and Art Around 1900 (Gísli Magnússon)....Pages 49-66 August Strindberg’s Art in Modernist and Occult Context (Marja Lahelma)....Pages 67-92 ‘Only Poets and Occultists Believe in Them Just Now’: Fairies and the Modernist Crisis of Authorship (Per Faxneld)....Pages 93-110 Front Matter ....Pages 111-111 Return from Oblivion: Joséphin Péladan’s Literary Esotericism (Sasha Chaitow)....Pages 113-136 Ghosts Before Breakfast: The Appetite for the Beyond in Early Avant-Garde Film (Benedikt Hjartarson)....Pages 137-162 Marie Wilson and Nanos Valaoritis in Conversation: Surrealism, Imagetext, and Occult Aesthetics in Terre de Diamant (Victoria Ferentinou)....Pages 163-191 Front Matter ....Pages 193-193 Magic Art Between the Primitive and the Occult: Animal Sacrifice in Jan Švankmajer’s Drawer Fetishes (Kristoffer Noheden)....Pages 195-213 Retrogardism and Occulture in Håkan Sandell’s Poetry (Giuliano D’Amico)....Pages 215-234 Back Matter ....Pages 235-275 Many modernist and avant-garde artists and authors were fascinated by the occult movements of their day. This volume explores how Occultism came to shape modernist art, literature, and film. Individual chapters examine the presence and role of occultism in the work of such modernist luminaries as Rainer Maria Rilke, August Strindberg, W.B. Yeats, Joséphin Péladan and the artist Jan Švankmajer, as well as in avant-garde film, post-war Greek Surrealism, and Scandinavian Retrogardism. Combining the theoretical and methodological foundations of the field of Esotericism Studies with those of Literary Studies, Art History, and Cinema Studies, this volume provides in-depth and nuanced perspectives upon the relationship between Occultism and Modernism in the Western arts from the nineteenth century to the present day--back cover