Description
Book SynopsisIn this pioneering scholarly work on occult symbols in literature, the reader is offered a vivid look into how W.B. Yeats, T.S. Eliot, and Franz Kafka_three masters of symbolic expression_utilized Tarot cards in their poetry and prose. Focusing on the Tarot''s ancient associations with divine knowledge, its pictorial representation of both the Jewish and Christian Cabala, and the Tarot''s more recent pedestrian affiliation with the occult, June Leavitt skillfully demonstrates how Yeats, Eliot, and Kafka align themselves in their uniquely individual ways with the Tarot symbols'' mapping of reality. Paying close attention to the mystical nuances of the Tarot, Ms. Leavitt shows how Tarot symbols allow for radically new readings of the texts in which they are situated, and play a transformative role in the three writers'' search for God. This search remained indecisive for Kafka, resulted in Eliot''s conversion to Anglo-Catholicism, and went hand in hand with Yeats'' passion for pagan god
Trade ReviewLeavitt's book maps out the Tarot and its symbolic world in the sphere of literary criticism more clearly than any other work on this subject. For those who wish to more fully enter the symbolic world of Yeats, Eliot, and Kafka, Esoteric Symbols will guide them and enrich their understanding of a subject too often obscured by prejudice. Even though Yeats, Eliot, and Kafka wrote in an age of materialism, as artists they were nevertheless drawn to the symbolic world of the Tarot, rich in an iconographic language that is both subtle and seductive despite its rivalry with twentieth century cynicism. -- Kathryn Sullivan Kruger, Author of Weaving the Word: The Metaphorics of Weaving and Female Textual Production and a contributing writer to Women Reading
Table of ContentsPart 1 List of Illustrations Part 2 Preface Chapter 3 Introduction Chapter 4 The Hermetic Magician: "Red Hanrahan" Chapter 5 The Cards in Madam Sosostris's Hand: An Empty Sign System Chapter 6 The Tarot in Kafka Chapter 7 Tarot and the Spiritual Autobiography of T.S. Eliot Chapter 8 The Psychic Symbols of Frank Kafka Chapter 9 Tarot and the Masked Life of W.B. Yeats Chapter 10 Putting All the Cards on the Table Part 11 Bibliography
