Peter-André Alt
Imaginäres Geheimwissen
Untersuchungen zum Hermetismus in literarischen Texten der Frühen Neuzeit
1. Edition 2012
241 pages
ISBN 978-3-86234-675-2
V&R unipress
Berliner Mittelalter- und Frühneuzeitforschung -
PDF eBook
| Book | 39,90 € |
|
Hermetism is considered as thriving element of a religious-based history of knowledge in early modernity. Organized by sepcific topics and motifs, it contributes to the form and structure of literary texts, published in the 16th and 17th century. Informed by conceptual history, this book scrutinizes the different constellations and configurations of hermetic knowledge in fictional patterns. Its argument starts from the very origin of hermetism, as it is documented by the "corpus hermeticum", collected in late antiquity and resuscitated by its reception since early renaissance. The survey focusses on the function of hermetic topics in the discourse of European poetics, on its reflection in early modern allegory, its transformation both within pastorals and religious poetry, last but not least its deep interconnection with the mode of paradoxy in spiritual discourse. The argument is completed by a theoretical excursus on the the conceptual dimension of tradition and the status of hermetic knowledge within the history of thinking in early modernity.
