Lure of the Arcane

ZIOLKOWSKI,THEODORE

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Author
ZIOLKOWSKI,THEODORE
Publish Date
08/01/2013
Book Type
hardcover
Publisher Name
HOPKINS
Subtitle
The Literature of Cult and Conspiracy
Number of Pages
248
ISBN-10
1421409585
ISBN-13
9781421409580
citemno
230634
SKU
9781421409580

Description

Explore 2,000 years of conspiracy in fiction.
Outstanding Academic Title, Choice
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.”