Abstract
Joséphin Péladan (1858–1918) was a key figure in the development of French symbolism. The author of over a hundred novels and monographs, his work represents a unique, eclectic attempt to use art and literature as a vehicle for esoteric transformation, with strong elements of early modernist thought. Identified as possibly the largest single body of ‘literary esotericism’, his work has, until recently, been poorly understood. In her study of his work, Sasha Chaitow utilizes an interdisciplinary framework to give equal weight to the literary and esoteric characteristics of Péladan’s output. This chapter defines and justifies the term ‘literary esotericism’, provides a roadmap for similar interdisciplinary studies, and reveals the significance of contextualizing the occult characteristics of such work.
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- 1.
Parts of this biographical section on Péladan were originally published as part of my article (Chaitow, 2014a). Some of the findings and analysis are drawn from my doctoral thesis (Chaitow, 2014b) which will be published by Brill in 2019.
- 2.
Signed G.A., Mercure de France, July 16, 1918, 372–373. Quoted in Pincus-Witten (1976, 1).
- 3.
Letters from de Guaïta to Péladan dated May 24, 1890, November 15, 1884, October 9, 1884 (Bertholet, 1952, 53, 66, 138); Péladan (1890c), cited in de l’Estoile (2010, 122).
- 4.
Language, spelling, vocabulary, and syntax as in original.
- 5.
The other two arts are diction and elocution, respectively, corresponding to the soul and the spirit.
- 6.
I use the term ‘subaltern’ in relation to matters of cultural hegemony as discussed by Gramsci , although clearly not in relation to the political issues that concerned him. For a nuanced discussion of Gramsci’s work, see Adamson (1980); for a close exploration of its role in the development of modern French culture, see Henry (2008).
- 7.
A thematic study of illustrated books in France is found in Silverman (2008); a significant study of the role of print media as a means of understanding a given culture is Mussell (2012). For a thorough discussion of the relationship between media influence on politics in a comparative study of Britain and France in the early days of the press, see Harris (1996), van Horne Melton (2001).
- 8.
Péladan’s cosmology draws heavily on the work of Fabre d’Olivet , most notably his reinterpretation of Genesis. Péladan collated a number of cosmogonical myths to build his own Promethean outlook, including elements borrowed from Plato’s dialogues, Orphic cosmology, Gnostic mythology, Aeschylian tragedy, and fragments of world mythology.
- 9.
As with each of the methods I implemented, my decisions have been governed by the needs of the material at hand. Since authorial intent is strongly expressed in Péladan’s work as noted in the discussion of his practise of cross-referencing his own work, I considered that it would have been a disservice to the material to do otherwise. Reader-response or other approaches may be useful in further studies of his reception, but would have been extraneous to this study.
- 10.
Péladan’s work has also been included in studies devoted to le fantastique such as Boulos Hage (1993) and Schneider (1964).
- 11.
For more on the concept of philosophical history, see Godwin (1979, 2009), Findlen (2004), Fletcher (2011).
- 12.
Chapter 1 of Comment on devient Fée begins with four quotations from Péladan’s other works: Le Vice suprême (fiction, 1884), La Victoire du mari (fiction, 1889), La Queste du Graal (anthology compiled by Péladan, 1894), and Comment on devient Mage (theoretical, 1892). He frequently cites Comment on devient artiste (theoretical, 1894) for further reading on various aspects of his treatise. The insertion of cross-referential quotations is a common feature of his theoretical works.
- 13.
For examples, see Bulwer-Lytton (1842), Kearns (2007), von Mücke (1986, 51, note 16), von Mücke (2003, 294). Péladan’s work has been compared by Leon Surette to that of Bulwer-Lytton, but unfortunately Surette has based his understanding on Pincus-Witten (1976), and perpetuates the same stereotypical impressions of Péladan encountered in earlier biographies, focusing only on a few specific works ( Surette, 1994, 149).
- 14.
For more on this point, see Messent, ed. (1981, 1, 13), Geary (1992), Botting (1996), Smith (2007), Botting and Townshend, eds. (2004), Willard (1998), Valentine (1995).
- 15.
On these points, see also Surette and Tryphonopoulos, eds. (1996), Senior (1959), Materer (1995), Lembert (2004). Surette (1994) is valuable study with detailed explorations of the influence exercised by Péladan on Ezra Pound, as well as Péladan’s reception of Dante, Wagner, and Rossetti .
- 16.
Many other books deriving from the spectrum of esoteric currents are characterized by the primacy given to leading the reader toward esoteric contemplation, but they are wholly esoteric works, rather than literary vehicles containing elements of esoteric doctrine, hence they are not listed here. For examples and discussion, see Versluis (2004, 147–148). On Meyrink, see Klaus (2010), Jansen (1922), Marzin (1986), Treitel (2004).
- 17.
In further studies it may be worth pursuing a line of analysis from the perspective of modern communication theory, with Marshall McLuhan’s seminal axiom ‘the medium is the message’ as a point of departure. See McLuhan (1994).
- 18.
( Aristotle, 1932, vol. 23, section 1448b.) For a study on the genre in French literature contemporary to Péladan, see Amato and Schamp (2005); see also Carnevali (2010).
- 19.
In the introductory section of Coeur en peine (1890), Péladan lists the two first ‘septenaries’ of his La Décadence latine cycle of novels, with a summary of each (including the unwritten novels) and a ‘Schéma de Concordance’, describing the internal connections between the novels. The first septenary had already been published and ended with Coeur en peine; the second began to appear from 1891 onward. Of the seven novels presented as forming part of the second septenary, only one appeared under a different title. The novels were written and published between 1891 and 1900 ( Péladan, 1890, xvi–xxi, 1893, xxiii–xxiv, 389–391, 1894, 1).
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Chaitow, S. (2018). Return from Oblivion: Joséphin Péladan’s Literary Esotericism. In: Bauduin, T., Johnsson, H. (eds) The Occult in Modernist Art, Literature, and Cinema. Palgrave Studies in New Religions and Alternative Spiritualities. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-76499-3_6
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