Modernism and the Occult [Hardcover]

This study of modernism's high imperial, occult-exotic affiliations presents many well-known figures from the period 1880-1960 in a new light. Modernism and the Occult traces the history of modernist engagement with 'irregular', heterodox and imported knowledge.1. Empire and Occultism 2. Modernist Interworlds 3. Destruction-Creation: from Decadence to Dada 4. Call to Order, Occultist Geopolitics, Spirit Wars 5. 'Zen' in the Second Abstraction 6. Owning, Disowning and Trivializing the Occult Notes Select Bibliography Index

Modernism and the Occult is a worthy read for those who are interested in the development of modernity, European high empire, modern art, and the occult and the influence of Eastern thought upon it. He has done a stellar job undertaking the difficult task of bringing disparate strands of phenomena and thought together to construct a very particular view of a fascinating part of the history of modernity. (Della Campion, Reading Religion, readingreligion.org, October, 2017)

'Anyone wanting to understand modernism needs to read Bramble's book.' - Paul Edwards, Journal of Wyndham Lewis Studies

John Bramble, an Emeritus Fellow of Corpus Christi College Oxford, lectured in Classics at Oxford University, UK. His publications as a classicist include Persius and the Programmatic Satire (1974, reissued 2010), and contributions to The Cambridge History of Classical Literature Vol. 2 (1983). As a historian of mystical syncretism and religio-cultural mixing, he has contributed to The Subtle Body in Asia and the West (2013).

'A brilliant and revelatory study of the central importance for European modernism of the syncretism of Eastern and Western in the occult revivals during the age of the high European empires.' - Philip Hardie, Trinity College, University of Cambridge, UK