Esoteric Symbols: The Tarot in Yeats, Eliot, and Kafka (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9780761836742)

In 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 gods and angels.

Author: June Leavitt
ISBN-10: 0761836748
ISBN-13: 9780761836742
Publisher: University Press of America
Language: English
Published: 05/31/2007
Pages: 154
Format: Paperback
Weight: 0.61lbs
Size: 9.00h x 6.06w x 0.53d

Review Citation(s):
Reference and Research Bk News 11/01/2007 pg. 12