The Metaphysics of Balzac

The Metaphysics of Balzac PDF

Author: Ursula Newell Gestefeld

Publisher: Forgotten Books

Published: 2017-07-12

Total Pages: 120

ISBN-13: 9780259526131

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Excerpt from The Metaphysics of Balzac: As Found in "the Magic Skin," "Louis Lambert," and "Seraphita" All existence is interpretation. As living human beings we are interpreters of our own nature through experience of its possibilities. Confronted first by its depths, we are attracted to its heights through the drawing power of our ideals, a power that impels us upward, however strong the gravity of our sensuous nature. What is natural is succeeded by what is pos sible. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Western Esotericism and the Science of Religion

Western Esotericism and the Science of Religion PDF

Author: International Association for the History of Religions. Congress

Publisher: Peeters Publishers

Published: 1998

Total Pages: 330

ISBN-13: 9789042906303

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This volume is based upon papers read during the innovative section "Western Esotericism and the Science of Religion" organized at the 17th International Congress of the International Association for the History of Religions (IAHR) in Mexico City, August 5-12, 1995. The section was created in order to fill a long-standing hiatus in the academic study of religions: whereas phenomena such as gnosticism and hermetism in antiquity, and even the occult sciences of that period, have long been recognized as subjects worthy of serious investigation, the history of similar and related phenomena in more recent periods has hardly received the same measure of scholarly attention and recognition. The present volume is devoted to the academic emancipation of these areas as constituting a legitimate domain of research, which may be referred to by the generic label "western esotericism". Preceded by an introductory essay on the birth of this new discipline in the study of religion, the volume provides a sample of current research in the field and devotes special attention to some central methodological questions.

Louis Lambert / The Exiles / Seraphita

Louis Lambert / The Exiles / Seraphita PDF

Author: Honoré de Balzac

Publisher:

Published: 2015-01-14

Total Pages: 286

ISBN-13: 9780988202672

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Louis Lambert, The Exiles, and Seraphita are three titles from the "Philosophical Studies" of Honore de Balzac's magnum opus, The Human Comedy, which includes about 100 linked stories and novels. The three works included in this volume are thematically connected by their engagement with the spiritual doctrines of Emanuel Swedenborg. Louis Lambert examines the life and theories of a boy genius who is enrolled in the College de Vendome by a benefactor, the real-life author Madame de Stael. But the actual events of Louis Lambert are secondary to its extended discussions of philosophy and human emotion. The Exiles is a short story, published in 1831, about two poets named Dante and Godefroid de Gand who attend the Sorbonne at the start of the fourteenth century. It explores questions of metaphysics and mysticism, particularly the spiritual quest for illuminism and enlightenment. Seraphita is Balzac's paean to spiritual love. It departs from the realism of the author's best-known works. Seraphita is a strange and melancholic being loved by Minna, who believes him to be a man, and also by Wilfrid, who considers her a woman. In fact, Seraphita is an androgyne, the perfect example of humanity."

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