Monday, September 19, 2011

New book on Martinism

For those interested in the history of Martinism in France, especially when it comes to social and political views: David Allen Harvey, Beyond Enlightenment: Occultism and Politics in Modern France (Dekalb: Northern Illinois University Press, 2005).

The book "traces the birth of Martinism during the Enlightenment, its revival in the fin de siècle, and the late nineteenth-century formation of a distinctly Martinist project-the synarchy-aimed at the social and political renewal of France and the greater world." It maintains that "The Martinist doctrines formed a unique synthesis of Enlightenment and counter-Enlightenment thought."

Thanks to Marcel Roggemans for bringing this book to my attention.