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Books > Humanities > Religion & beliefs > Alternative belief systems > Occult studies > General
A pioneering, richly interdisciplinary volume, this is the first
work in any language on a subject that has long attracted interest
in the West and is now of consuming interest in Russia itself. The
cultural ferment unleashed by the collapse of the Soviet Union
reawakened interest in the study of Russian religion and
spirituality. This book provides a comprehensive account of the
influence of occult beliefs and doctrines on intellectual and
cultural life in twentieth-century Russia.
Bernice Glatzer Rosenthal's introduction delineates the
characteristics of occult cosmology which distinguish it from
mysticism and theology, and situates Russian occultism in
historical and pan-European contexts. Contributors explore the
varieties of occult thinking characteristic of prerevolutionary
Russia, including Kabbala, theosophy, anthroposophy, and the
fascination with Satanism. Other contributors document occultism in
the cultural life of the early Soviet period, examine the
surprising traces of the occult in the culture of the high Stalin
era, and describe the occult revival in contemporary Russia. The
volume includes bibliographical essays on Russian occult materials
available outside Russia.
Contributors: Mikhail Agursky, Hebrew University; Valentina
Brougher, Georgetown University; Maria Carlson, University of
Kansas; Robert Davis, New York Public Library; Mikhail Epstein,
Emory University; Kristi Groberg, North Dakota State University;
Irina Gutkin, UCLA; Michael Hagemeister, Ruhr University, Bochum;
Linda Ivanits, Pennsylvania State University; Edward Kasinec, New
York Public Library; Judith Deutsch Kornblatt, University of
Wisconsin; Hakan Lovgren, Independent Scholar; Bernice Glatzer
Rosenthal, Fordham University; William F. Ryan, Warburg Institute,
London; Holly Denio Stephens, University of Kansas; Anthony Vanchu,
University of Texas, Austin; Renata Von Maydell, Munich University;
George Young, Independent Scholar"
The supernatural has become extraordinarily popular in literature,
television, and film. Vampires, zombies, werewolves, witches, and
wizard have become staples of entertainment industries, and many of
these figures have received extensive critical attention. But one
figure has remained in the shadows - the female ghost. Inherently
liminal, often literally invisible, the female ghost has
nevertheless appeared in all genres. Subversive Spirits: The Female
Ghost in British and American Popular Culture brings this figure
into the light, exploring her cultural significance in a variety of
media from 1926 to 2014. Robin Roberts argues that the female ghost
is well worth studying for what she can tell us about feminine
subjectivity in cultural contexts. Subversive Spirits examines
appearances of the female ghost in heritage sites, theater,
Hollywood film, literature, and television in the United States and
the United Kingdom. What holds these disparate female ghosts
together is their uncanny ability to disrupt, illuminate, and
challenge gendered assumptions. As with other supernatural figures,
the female ghost changes over time, especially responding to
changes in gender roles. Roberts's analysis begins with comedic
female ghosts in literature and film and moves into horror by
examining the successful play The Woman in Black and the legend of
the weeping woman, La Llorona. Roberts then situates the canonical
works of Maxine Hong Kingston and Toni Morrison in the tradition of
the female ghost to explore how the ghost is used to portray the
struggle and pain of women of color. Roberts further analyzes
heritage sites that use the female ghost as the friendly and
inviting narrator for tourists. The book concludes with a
comparison of the British and American versions of the television
hit Being Human, where the female ghost expands her influence to
become a mother and savior to all humanity.
" P.D. Ouspensky s] yearning for a transcendent, timeless
reality one that cancels out physical disintegration and death
figures into science at some fundamental level.
Einstein found solace in his theory of relativity, which
suggested to him that events are ever-present in the space-time
continuum. When his friend Michele Besso passed on shortly before
his own death, he wrote: 'For us believing physicists the
distinction between past, present, and future is only an illusion,
even if a stubborn one.'" from Magic, Mystery, and Science
The triumph of science would appear to have routed all other
explanations of reality. No longer does astrology or alchemy or
magic have the power to explain the world to us. Yet at one time
each of these systems of belief, like religion, helped shed light
on what was dark to our understanding. Nor have the occult arts
disappeared. We humans have a need for mystery and a sense of the
infinite.
Magic, Mystery, and Science presents the occult as a "third
stream" of belief, as important to the shaping of Western
civilization as Greek rationalism or Judeo-Christianity. The occult
seeks explanations in a world that is living and intelligent quite
unlike the one supposed by science. By taking these beliefs
seriously, while keeping an eye on science, this book aims to
capture some of the power of the occult. Readers will discover that
the occult has a long history that reaches back to Babylonia and
ancient Egypt. It proceeds alongside, and frequently mingles with,
religion and science. From the Egyptian Book of the Dead to New Age
beliefs, from Plato to Adolf Hitler, occult ways of knowing have
been used and hideously abused to explain a world that still tempts
us with the knowledge of its dark secrets."
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