The Occult in Modernist Art, Literature, and Cinema ed. by Tessel M. Bauduin and Henrik Johnsson (review)

In this challenging but illuminating collection of essays, Tessel Bauduin and Henrik Johnsson seek to explore "the interaction between occultism and modernist artistic expression" (4). Key to this exploration of "esotericism adapted to modernity" is their contention that modernity did not necessarily involve a complete abandonment of religious and spiritual notions in favor of a more rational, scientific construct. Rather, the modern age involved rearranging religious, spiritual, and broader supernatural ideas in a manner that allowed space for occult, esoteric, supernatural, and paranormal motifs to exist alongside other manifestations of modernist art, literature, and film.

Following an introductory chapter in which both editors lay out their definitions of modernism and occult modernism, Johnsson presents a historiographical overview of existing "Research into Occult Modernist Literature." The review divides the history of occult literature research into three generations: from 1940 to 1990, from 1990 to 2000, and from around 2000 to the present. In the conclusion to his overview, Johnsson singles out John Bramble's work as "reductive" and argues that it provides "an instructive example of how not to write about occult modernism" (41–42, emphasis in original). Johnsson advises scholars from any discipline—not just esotericism studies or religious studies—who wish to explore not only the connections between occultism and modernism but occultism in general, to be careful to treat occultism with seriousness and to recognize the use of occultism or occult ideas in an author's work. "A reaction of distaste or silence when confronted with a work of occult modernism," Johnsson asserts, "is best avoided" (42).

These two chapters lead into eight more featuring scholars who take Johnsson's advice in their studies of a number of visual artists, authors, filmmakers, poets, and others who treat their subjects' explorations or uses of the occult and esoteric with refreshing depth and gravity. Divided into three sections—Artistic Practices, Aesthetics, and Occulture—these chapters address creators across a broad spectrum, from William Butler Yeats to Jan Švankmajer.

This volume will serve both as an excellent introduction to ways in which the occult may be understood within the wider context of Modernism for relative novices as well as an intriguing collection of studies for more advanced scholars of Modernist art, cinema, and literature.