The Dark Side of the Enlightenment: Wizards, Alchemists, and Spiritual Seekers in the Age of Reason

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John V. Fleming

The Dark Side of the Enlightenment

Wizards, Alchemists, and Spiritual Seekers in the Age of Reason

John V. Fleming

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English

W W Norton & Co
23 August 2013

History; European history; Modern history to 20th century: c 1700 to c 1900; Magic, alchemy & hermetic thought

In The Dark Side of the Enlightenment, John V. Fleming shows how the impulses of the European Enlightenment-generally associated with great strides in the liberation of human thought from superstition and traditional religion-were challenged by tenacious religious ideas or channeled into the ""darker"" pursuits of the esoteric and the occult. His engaging topics include the stubborn survival of the miraculous, the Enlightenment roles of Rosicrucianism and Freemasonry, and the widespread pursuit of magic and alchemy.

Though we tend not to associate what was once called alchemy with what we now call chemistry, Fleming shows that the difference is merely one of linguistic modernization. Alchemy was once the chemistry, of Arabic derivation, and its practitioners were among the principal scientists and physicians of their ages. No point is more important for understanding the strange and fascinating figures in this book than the prestige of alchemy among the learned men of the age.

Fleming follows some of these complexities and contradictions of the ""Age of Lights"" into the biographies of two of its extraordinary offspring. The first is the controversial wizard known as Count Cagliostro, the ""Egyptian"" freemason, unconventional healer, and alchemist known most infamously for his ambiguous association with the Affair of the Diamond Necklace, which history has viewed as among the possible harbingers of the French Revolution and a major contributing factor in the growing unpopularity of Marie Antoinette. Fleming also reviews the career of Julie de Krüdener, the sentimental novelist, Pietist preacher, and political mystic who would later become notorious as a prophet.

Impressively researched and wonderfully erudite, this rich narrative history sheds light on some lesser-known mental extravagances and beliefs of the Enlightenment era and brings to life some of the most extraordinary characters ever encountered either in history or fiction.

By: John V. Fleming
Imprint: W W Norton & Co
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 244mm, Width: 165mm, Spine: 36mm
Weight: 750g
ISBN: 9780393079463
ISBN 10: 0393079465
Pages: 352
Publication Date: 23 August 2013
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

John V. Fleming, a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, taught humanistic studies at Princeton University for forty years and is the author of The Anti-Communist Manifestos (ISBN 978 0 393 06925 9). Author website: www.johnvfleming.com

Reviews for The Dark Side of the Enlightenment: Wizards, Alchemists, and Spiritual Seekers in the Age of Reason

This is a book that sparkles with wit and learning and mischief. In place of a pale age of reason, John Fleming guides us through the witching hour of the Enlightenment, a time haunted by visions of magic, mystery, and the occult enchanted and enchanting. --Lawrence Lipking, Chester D. Tripp Professor of Humanities, Northwestern University