2021-02-20 at 15:23:25
Khanim Garayeva from University of Szeged
will present Scientific nature of Esotericism in A. Szerb’s The Pendragon Legend
Abstract
While modern world focuses on the rationalisation of natural events, the half of it is still sacralising the nature, cosmos and material reality under the concepts of the New Age science or New Age religions. Despite the fact that throughout the centuries, the close connection between esotericism and science had been disregarded by many, this interconnectedness became a subject to a certain type of fiction. "Intellectual esotericism" (the term I offer) is a general term for particular novels as such, where the demarcation line between science and the occult is blurred. In this paper I will concentrate on a historiographic metafictional novel called "The Pendragon Legend" by the Hungarian writer Antal Szerb’s to demonstrate the literary representation of the occult lure in the scientific circles, the relationship between the esoteric practices and rational thinking. "Scientific occultists" (my suggestion as well) of the novels will be elaborated on as the main, yet controversial, driving forces of the existing interconnectedness between these world views.
In section
Cultural Studies