Lure of the Arcane The Literature of Cult and Conspiracy

You must be logged in to access this title.

Sign up now

Already a member? Log in

Synopsis

Fascination with the arcane is a driving force in this comprehensive survey of conspiracy fiction. Theodore Ziolkowski traces the evolution of cults, orders, lodges, secret societies, and conspiracies through various literary manifestations—drama, romance, epic, novel, opera—down to the thrillers of the twenty-first century. Lure of the Arcane considers Euripides’s Bacchae, Andreae’s Chymical Wedding, Mozart’s The Magic Flute, and Eco’s Foucault’s Pendulum, among other seminal works. Mimicking the genre’s quest-driven narrative arc, the reader searches for the significance of conspiracy fiction and is rewarded with the author’s cogent reflections in the final chapter. After much investigation, Ziolkowski reinforces Umberto Eco’s notion that the most powerful secret, the magnetic center of conspiracy fiction, is in fact "a secret without content."

Book details

Author:
Theodore Ziolkowski
ISBN:
9781421409597
Related ISBNs:
9781421409580
Publisher:
Johns Hopkins University Press
Pages:
248
Reading age:
Not specified
Includes images:
No
Date of addition:
2020-10-31
Usage restrictions:
Copyright
Copyright date:
2013
Copyright by:
N/A 
Adult content:
No
Language:
English
Categories:
Language Arts, Literature and Fiction