Restoring Paradise: Western Esotericism, Literature, Art, and Consciousness (Suny Series in Western Esoteric Traditions) (Hardcover)

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Editorial Reviews

Review

"This is a courageous attempt to forge a connection between esoteric literature, as defined in relatively conventional academic terms, and modern literature and art--and thereby a connection between esotric traditions and the modern mind."

Product Description

Focusing on how spiritual initiation takes place in Western esoteric religious, literary, and artistic traditions from antiquity to the present, Restoring Paradise provides an introduction to Western esotericism, including early modern esoteric movements like alchemy, Christian theosophy, and Rosicrucianism. The author argues that European and American literature and art often entail a written transmission of spiritual knowledge in which writing itself works to transmute consciousness, to generate, provoke, or convey spiritual awakening. He focuses on several important figures whose work has not received the attention it deserves, including American writer and Imagist poet H.D. (Hilda Doolittle) and British painter Cecil Collins, among others. While Arthur Versluis presents a new way of understanding Western esotericism in a contemporary light, above all he has crafted a book about knowing, and about how we come to know, and what "knowing" by way of literature and language actually means.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 174 pages
• Publisher: State University of New York Press (May 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0791461394
• ISBN-13: 978-0791461396
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: No customer reviews yet. Be the first.
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #433,508 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)