Esoteric Symbols: The Tarot in Yeats, Eliot, and Kafka - Paperback

by June Leavitt (Author)

In this pioneering scholarly work on occult symbols in literature, the reader is offered a vivid look into how W.B. Yeats, T.S. Eliot, and Franz Kafka-three masters of symbolic expression-utilized Tarot cards in their poetry and prose. Focusing on the Tarot's ancient associations with divine knowledge, its pictorial representation of both the Jewish and Christian Cabala, and the Tarot's more recent pedestrian affiliation with the occult, June Leavitt skillfully demonstrates how Yeats, Eliot, and Kafka align themselves in their uniquely individual ways with the Tarot symbols' mapping of reality.

Paying close attention to the mystical nuances of the Tarot, Ms. Leavitt shows how Tarot symbols allow for radically new readings of the texts in which they are situated, and play a transformative role in the three writers' search for God. This search remained indecisive for Kafka, resulted in Eliot's conversion to Anglo-Catholicism, and went hand in hand with Yeats' passion for pagan gods and angels.

Visit the author's website at http: //www.spiritualityteaching.com.

Author Biography

June Leavitt is an independent scholar and writer who has received much critical acclaim for her books and articles. She is the creator of a college course on spirituality in literature that she has taught at the Overseas Students Program at Ben Gurion University of the Negev in Israel.