The Occult in Modernist Art, Literature, and Cinema

Many modernist and avant-garde artists and authors were fascinated by the occult movements of their day. Authors of this volume comprehensively address how occultism came to shape modernist art, literature, and film, with individual chapters exploring 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 modern artist Jan Švankmaier, as well as in avant-garde film, post-war Greek surrealism, and Scandinavian retrogardism.  The volume combines theoretical and methodological foundations of the field of esotericism studies with those of such diverse fields as literary studies, art history, and cinema studies to explore the replationship between occultism and modernism in the Western arts from the nineteenth century to present day.