The Occult in Russian and Soviet Culture





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, University of California, Los Angeles

MICHAEL HAGEMEISTER, Ruhr University, Bochum

LINDA IVANITS, Pennsylvania State University

EDWARD KASINEC, New York Public Library

JUDITH DEUTSCH KORNBLATT, University of Wisconsin

HKAN LVGREN, 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









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