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A shipwreck in the South Seas, a palm-tree paradise where a mad doctor conducts vile experiments, animals that become human and then "beastly" in ways they never were before--it's the stuff of high adventure. It's also a parable about Darwinian theory, a social satire in the vein of Jonathan Swift (Gulliver's Travels), and a bloody tale of horror. Or, as H. G. Wells himself wrote about this story, "The Island of Dr. Moreau is an exercise in youthful blasphemy. Now and then, though I rarely admit it, the universe projects itself towards me in a hideous grimace. It grimaced that time, and I did my best to express my vision of the aimless torture in creation." This colorful tale by the author of The Time Machine, The Invisible Man, and The War of the Worlds lit a firestorm of controversy at the time of its publication in 1896.
Book Description
A shipwreck in the South Seas takes us to a palm-tree paradise where a mad sciencist -- the depraved Dr. Moreau -- conducts vile experiments, unspeakable animal experiments with hideous, humanlike results. Edward Prendick, an Englishman whose misfortunes bring him to the island, is witness to the Beast Folk's strange civilization and their eventual terrifying regression. It's the stuff of high adventure; it's also a tale about evolution -- and a satire that plays deliberately in the vein Jonathan Swift mined in Gulliver's Travels. It's also a bloody tale of horror. Wells himself was frank about it: "The Island of Dr. Moreau is an exercise in youthful blasphemy. Now and then, though I rarely admit it, the universe projects itself towards me in a hideous grimace. It grimaced that time, and I did my best to express my vision of the aimless torture in creation." While gene-splicing and bioengineering are common practices today, readers are still astounded at Wells's haunting vision and the ethical questions he raised a century before our time.
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BUT the islanders, seeing that I was really adrift, took pity on me. I drifted very slowly to the eastward, approaching the island slantingly; and presently I saw, with hysterical relief, the launch come round and return towards me.
Customer Reviews:
Worth reading carefully.......2007-10-06
I went through this book pretty quickly, and read it the way you'd read a Dan Brown book. As a result, when I finished it I thought of it as a freaky adventure story with a few comments on evolution.
However, after reading the afterword by Brian Aldiss, I realized how deep the rabbit hole really goes with this thing. H.G. Wells has not only talked about evolution and weird science, but tied in religion, the human capacity for reason, the abuse of knowledge, and enough other deep thoughts to make your head spin. I might have to give it a second read sometime.
If you can pace yourself while reading it to let the ideas sink, then I recommend the read.
Free SF Reader.......2007-09-03
An Englishman is rescued twice, once from a shipwreck, and once from being abandoned by the captain of the ship who rescued him.
Dr. Moreau takes him into his home, and slowly it dawns on the
horrified individual that Moreau is basically insane, and has been
experimenting with enhancing animal intelligence. The relationship
between the creations and Moreau is very warped, and a large part of
the horror.
Staggeringly good!.......2007-08-28
I thought the book was more about what happens to Society when the thought of a central God is removed. We have moved into a world where Christianity is a million miles away from how it mattered to people in 1896, and there is confusion and hostility with those to whom religion matters a great deal. The Society of the Beasts surely mirrors what Wells thought we were all heading for in 1896? He was, in part, quite right. A book which has many interpretations, and amazingly gains more as the decades pass.
Cheap reprint from public domain.......2007-08-28
Filiquarian Publishing, LLC published this book under the idea that it is in "public domain status." Meaning, it is not any better than you would find online. The book is readable, but emphasis (bold or italics) are done by an underscore before and after the word(s). Example: "_His_ is the lightning flash, we sang. _His_ is the deep, salt sea." (page 82) To me, it is annoying to read it this way. You occasionally find extra quotation marks and a double dash (--) in the place of an ellipsis (...). On page 41, you get all of the above.
The binding is right up there with self-published titles. The cover is as basic as it gets, and has no text on the spine (see picture.) The back cover has merely a UPC barcode. On my copy, the glue they used for the spine was pressed out and made a rather strange bind. By strange, I mean cheap-looking.
Anyway, if you are looking for an inexpensive copy of this book and don't care about the bindery or text issues, then this book is for you.
The difference between can and should.......2007-01-07
I was not planning on writing a review of this book, as I should have thought that a book this popular would have been reviewed well here by this point. As I looked through the fifty or so reviews, however, I realized that none of the reviewers had realized what the main idea of this book was, or if they had, they failed to mention it, and failing to mention the main point of a book in a review of the book is a rather poor practice, is it not?
The main point of this book was that Wells wanted us to wrestle with one assumption that science in his day was making, and still is today, namely that whatever we can do we should do. Just because scientific advancement has given us the ability to do things, does that mean we should? In Wells' day the hot topic was vivisection, so that is the practice discussed in this book, wrapped in the garb of a novel, and a very good novel at that. The same discussion is raging today with issues like stem cell research and cloning. Just because we can clone a human, does that mean science should do it? If not, why not? Because it violates humanity? If we are products of evolution what basis do we have for holding humanity as something that should not be violated?
These issues are the ones that Wells brings to bear in this book by having Moreau use vivisection to create (near) humans from animals. The horror of the new creations is that they are distorted humanity. They are the violated humanity, but why should we find that horrific? Dr. Moreau, the figure of rationality with no regard for emotion, conscience, or morality, has no problem with the creatures. He does not see why they are horrific to Prendick, the narrator of the story. It seems that Wells is saying that scientific rationalism has no basis for saying that we should not violate humanity in the interest of science. For those who hold to this scientific rationalism, the question of should does not even arise. In such a position, can is equal to should.
Of course, there are secondory points as well, such as man's ever persistent derire to shape the world around him to fit his will. Wells' point seems to be that our attempts to do this are doomed to failure, as nature simply refuses to be bent, just as Moreau's "humans" refused to stay human and kept reverting to their original animal state.
As for the literary quality of the book, it is of the same excellent quality of the rest of Wells fictional works. The sense of realness is still there. The best way I can think to describe it is that is writing seems have the exact opposite feel that of fairy tales. Fairy tales always seem magical, happy, and imaginative. Wells is extremely realistic, usually unhappy, and seems as if they were writings of someone who had really been through the things the narrator claims to have been through.
Overall grade: A
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Island of Doctor Moreau (Graphic Novel)
Manufacturer: Berkley Publishing Group
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0425120295 |
Book Description
The Time Machine (1895) and The Island of Doctor Moreau (1896) brought H.G. Wells instant fame and established him as one of the pre-eminent founders of modern science fiction. Even at their most bleakly pessimistic and ironic, these stories testify to the resources of human courage and
ingenuity. This edition offers authoritative texts of both novels, explanatory notes, an Introduction setting them in the context of Wells's life and thought, and the age in which they were written.
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When the Time Traveler courageously stepped out of his machine for the first time, he found himself in the year 802,700--and everything had changed. H.G. Wells's famous novel of one man's astonishing journey beyond the conventional limits of the imagination is regarded as one of the great masterpieces in the literature of science fiction.
Customer Reviews:
Book.......2007-09-22
This is a strong book that always keeps yo guessing and on the edge of your seat. I think that this author writes some nice pieces of written masterpiece! I will be buying more!
Classic.......2007-09-21
A short read, but definitely fits in the realm of classic sci-fi. This is nothing like the newer movie remake of Time machine.
Review of The Time Machine.......2007-09-04
The Time Machine, by H.G. Wells, was first published in 1895. It remains a piece of classic literature because it is well written and because many feel that its message about society is still relevant today. H.G. Wells uses formal diction throughout the book, and much of the language used is typical of English literature in the late 19th century. The Time Traveler develops a Time Machine which he uses to travel into the future, to the year 802,701 A.D. While there, the Time Traveler learns about the society of the future, and the reasons for the distinct separation of classes.
Immediately upon arriving in the future, the Time Traveler meets the Eloi, a beautiful, graceful, child-like race. The Time Traveler befriends one of the Eloi after saving her from drowning in the river. Her name is Weena, and the Time Traveler learns about the Eloi from her companionship. The Eloi are a peaceful people, but also weak and stupid. The Eloi live a very leisurely lifestyle, eating strictly fruits. There are no houses in the year 802,701 A.D., and there seems to be no private ownership. The Eloi live, eat, and play as a group. There does not appear to have any form of government, and the Eloi seem to live in a perfected socialist society.
The Time Traveler soon realizes, however, that the Eloi are not the sole inhabitants of the earth in the future, after he returns to find his Time Machine stolen. A separate and very different race, the Morlocks, live below the ground. The Time Traveler describes these subterranean creatures as pale white, clammy, and apelike. The Morlocks have become so accustomed to the darkness underground that they avoid all light. The Time Traveler presumes that it is the Morlocks who have stolen his time Machine and hidden it in the base of a great statue.
It is not until the Time Traveler ventures below ground to search for his Time Machine that he realizes that the Morlocks are cannibalistic, relying on the weaker Eloi for food. The Time Traveler then begins to understand society in the future. The Eloi were once the aristocrats, and the Morlocks the working class. The aristocracy continued to buy the land above ground until the industry was forced below ground. The workers moved below ground with the industry, and the aristocrats stayed above ground, pursuing pleasure and relying on the workers underground for their goods and labor. Gradually, the laborers underground grew to detest the sun and their skin became bleached white, while the aristocrats became so comfortable and so unaccustomed to necessity or hardship that their size, strength, and intelligence waned. Thus, the Morlocks met all of the Eloi's needs so that they would have food. In essence, the Morlocks fattened up the Eloi in much the same way that we fatten up pigs for the slaughter. This society is not at all socialistic, like the Time Traveler first believed, but rather, the deep separation of classes has been caused by capitalism.
I would not recommend The Time Machine to one of my peers, simply because I do not agree with the underlying social message of the book. I do not believe that capitalism would ever produce a separation of classes as great as the one described in The Time Machine. History has shown that when the ruling class abuses its power and harms the working class, the working class will rebel and overthrow the ruling class. I did enjoy the book's story, however, and it is an easy read.
Free SF Reader.......2007-09-03
It will come as no surprise that the protagonist in this story, the
traveller, invents a time machine and uses it to venture into the
future.
The society that he ends up in seems amazing for a brief time, then
he realises that all is not as it seems. There is a large underclass
that is terribly exploited to produce all this for the eloi, as they
are called.
The underclass are named Morlocks, and it is here that the Time Traveler's sympathies reside.
Good to read before bedtime.......2007-09-01
I enjoyed watching the 1960 version of the movie as a child. I thought that if I read the book, that it would enhance my movie watching experience. Boy, was I wrong!
This book was a slow tedious read. I kept waiting for something interesting to happen. Anything. It never did. All I wanted was for the book to end. Reading it was like dying a slow agonizing death. I forced myself to read the first seventy pages, then I could not stand it any more.
The characters were uninteresting and had no personality whatsoever. The plot was way too basic and uneventful. Even the descriptions of the locations were bland.
This book is good to read before bedtime. It will put you right to sleep.
Average customer rating:
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The Island of Doctor Moreau
H. G. Wells
Manufacturer: Pan Books, Ltd.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Wells, H.G.
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ASIN: B000Q09MLC |
Product Description
This Audiofy audiobook chip packs Jonathan Kent's full 5 hour reading of "The Island of Doctor Moreau" on a tiny memory card. A single Audiofy audiobook chip, hardly larger than a stamp, holds a complete digital audiobook, and saves the last listening position automatically, unlike CDs. With an SD memory card slot or low-cost adapter - like those for digital cameras - this Audiofy audiobook chip can be played on Microsoft Windows and Apple Macintosh desktop computers or laptops (Microsoft Windows XP/2000/Me/98, or Apple Mac OS X 10.3.9 and above) or transferred to Apple iPod media players. Audiobook chips also move seamlessly to most Palm OS and Pocket PC handheld PDAs with SD expansion slots, as well as Treo and Windows Mobile "smartphones" (Palm OS 5.2 or Windows Mobile 2002 and above)... Wells weaves a story of scientific excess into a high-speed thriller. Montgomery, a brilliant but twisted biologists, is delivering exotic animals to his private island, when he rescues a shipwrecked man. An act of compassion, or another addition to his collection?
Book Description
Available as a single volume or part of the 10 volume set Frances Yeats: Selected Works
Customer Reviews:
Nuggets of Insight Within a Mountain of Insanity.......2005-12-23
To style this work of Dame Yates as historical is to do damage to the notion of history. What the book represents, more than anything else, is an apology for the rather absurd hermetical, cabalistic Rosicrucian mythology. As with her "Occult Philosophy in the Elizabethan Age", Dame Yates here demonstrates a rather profound lack of foundation in reality for one who would call herself a historian.
Within the corpus of the text, perhaps more than ninety percent of the narrative deals with the esoteric aspects of Rosicrucianism and its fairly interesting connections with freemasonry, Calvinism, and Lutheranism. That remaining small fraction that could be described as historical has to do mainly with the ridiculous attempt of the Elector of Palatine to usurp the throne of Bohemia at Prague. In terms of historical value, a short chapter would have captured everything. Relative to esoteric doctrine, volumes would not have yielded any rational thought.
One of the most insidious poisons transmitted in this work is that, somehow, the cabalistic Rosicrucians founded the modern European study of mathematics. We wonder, in this context, by what formulation the Dame would explain how Descartes and Pascal, certainly the two greatest mathematicians of the age, were Catholics, and thereby diammetrically opposed to the satanic Rosicrucian doctrine.
Michael A. Hoffman II has an excellent study tape, "Magic and Paganism in the Reign of Elizabeth I", which captures all that is of historical value within this and the aforementioned works of Dame Yates. Seekers after the truth would be much more well served by reviewing that study tape than by wading through these esoteric meanderings.
Interesting and cleverly constructed, but writing is mediocre.......2005-08-25
Having known nothing about the Rosicrucians but having a long-standing interest in Renaissance magic, I found this topic completely fascinating and I can't believe the Rosicrucian movement isn't more intriguing to the general public today. Yates' discussion of Rosicrucianism was thoroughly researched, particularly from primary documents, and was very well-organized, but his writing style wasn't the most captivating (to say the least). This book is perfect for someone looking to do some serious research, but I purchased this book in the interest of having some summer reading-- whew.
All in all, reliable author and material, but it probably won't keep you up all night.
The Rise of Rosicrucianism........2005-08-03
_The Rosicrucian Enlightenment_ by Renaissance scholar Frances Yates is a fascinating account of the Rosicrucian movement in seventeenth century Europe and its relationship to various political intrigues of the time. Yates begins by remarking that in referring to Rosicrucians she is not referring to any of the modern day occult groups which go under this name and by referring to "enlightenment" she is not referring to the historical period known as the "Aufklarung" in which philosophers attempted to shed light on the darkness of superstition. Rather, Yates suggests that certain documents referred to as the "Rosicrucian manifestos" published in seventeenth century Germany brought about an enlightenment in which other intellectuals attempted to copy from them and incorporate elements of Rosicruicianism into their utopias. The word Rosicrucian refers at once to the semi-mythical (at least believed to be mythical by most modern scholars) hero of the manifestos Christian Rosencreutz but also to the Rosy Cross (combining "Rose + Cross" or perhaps "Ros" (dew) and "Crux" in an alchemical interpretation). Yates emphasizes two aspects of the Rosicrucian movement. First, she wants to ground this movement in the Hermetic philosophy, cabbalism, and magical traditions of the Renaissance (emphasizing her earlier studies on such Renaissance figures as Giordano Bruno and Marsilio Ficino). Second, she wants to emphasize the influence of the Elizabethan magus John Dee on Rosicrucianism.
Yates begins by describing a "royal wedding" between Princess Elizabeth and Frederick V, Elector Palatine of the Rhine. These two became known mockingly as "the Winter King and Queen of Bohemia" after Frederick's failed attempt to take the throne of Bohemia and their flight from Prague. Their union was supposed to represent a Protestant front against Hapsburg aggression and the forces of Catholic reaction. Yates shows the influence of Shakespeare and the theater on the pair as well as Spenser who wrote the _Faerie Queene_. It was at around this time that three Rosicrucian manifestos appeared. These include two pamphlets which first appeared in 1614 and 1615 with abbreviated titles of the _Fama_ and the _Confessio_ and a third publication appearing in 1616, an alchemical romance with the title _The Chemical Wedding of Christian Rosencreutz_. This last romance is believed to have been written by Johann Valentin Andreae, a Lutheran pastor with socialist interests. These writings inform the reader of an invisible and hidden society of Rosicrucians founded by Christian Rosencreutz and explain his exploits and adventures as well as delving into alchemical symbolism. Yates suggests that they express political support for "the Winter King and Queen".
Yates argues that one of the most important figures to play some role in the development of the Rosicrucian movement is that of John Dee. Dee, a learned magus well versed in mathematics, numerology, and science, was an important figure in Elizabethan England; however, as Yates suggests he came to influence the Rosicrucian movement when he visited Germany, Bohemia, and Prague. Indeed, the Rosicrucian manifestos, which praise science and rationality are developed along some of the same lines as Dee's writings. Other important figures involved in the Rosicrucian movement, though denying their Rosicrucianism, include Robert Fludd and Michael Maier, both of whom expressed in alchemical writings cabalistic principles as well as the relationship between microcosm and macrocosm. Rosicrucianism created a furore in Germany and also spread to France where it created a scare among the populace. Rosicrucians at first were believed to be linked to the Jesuits; however, given the antipapist sentiment expressed by the Rosicrucians in their manifestos they were soon taken to be enemies of the Jesuits by counter-reformation thinkers. Cartesian philosophy and the thought of Francis Bacon were also taken to be linked with the Rosicrucians. Rosicrucianism emphasized science and regarded the discovery of two new stars as a beacon in the sky which mirrored the coming age of enlightenment. Another figure associated with Rosicrucianism is that of Elias Ashmole, the chief representative of the alchemical movement in England who copied the manifestos. Eventually Andreae came to move away from Rosicrucianism, advocating instead Christian unions as part of his utopian "Christianopolis". However, these unions were motivated by the same basic underlying philosophy as the Rosicrucian manifestos. Others who wrote utopias based on these manifestos include Campenella in Italy and Comenius. Some have maintained that the founding of the Royal Society, a society of scientists and mathematicians, in England serves as the instantiation of the "invisible brotherhood". Even Isaac Newton has been regarded as influenced by Rosicrucianism. In addition, Rosicrucianism came to influence freemasonry, which incorporated Rosicrucian elements into its grades.
This book serves as an excellent introduction to the Rosicrucian movement in the seventeenth century. Yates is indebted to A. E. Waite whose book on the subject proved useful to her; however, she notes the problematic parts in his book. Yates also details much of the political intrigue surrounding this movement. This book includes an appendix which features the two Rosicrucian manifestos in full: the _Fama_ and the _Confessio_.
The best,, so far.......2004-11-07
I found this book to be invaluable in clearing the factual fog around the original Rosicrucians. The author was a scrupulous and brilliant historian who has not, as far as I can find, been seriously challenged on her major conclusions by another scholar of similar standing and specialty. The reviewers of this book who claim Dames Yates made "HUGE assumptions" and "misinterpretations" do not cite sources for these claims. Not to do so is, at best, a disservice and at worst, indicative that the sources are not of the same caliber as Dame Yates.
Revolutionary Rosicrucians.......2002-08-09
This book began a revolution in encouraging scholars and laypersons to take the role of Esoteric movements as a legitimate element in the study of Western history. Though there have been recent disputes with some conclusions drawn by Dame Yates in this work, it still remains a pioneering document of historical research. The recent collection of essays by Christopher Bamford, "The Roscicrucian Enlightment Revisited" goes toward validation of much of this work. A seminal book in esoteric studies, highly recommended.
Product Description
The author undertakes an investigation into the history of Russian Freemasonry that has not been attempted previously. Her premise is that the Russian Enlightenment shows peculiar features, which prevent the application of the interpretative framework commonly used for the history of western thought. The author deals with the development of early Russian masonry, the formation of the Novikov circle in Moscow, the ?programme? of Rosicrucianism and the character of its Russian variant and, finally, the clash between the Rosicrucians and the State. The author concludes that the defenders of the Ancien RÈgime were not wrong. In fact the democratic behaviour, the critical attitude,the practice of participation, the freedom of thought, the tolerance for the diversity, the search for a direct communication with the divinity, in short all the attitudes and behaviours first practiced inside the eighteenth century Rosicrucian lodges constituted a cultural experience which spread throughout the entire society. Novikov?s imprisonment in 1792 and the war against the Rosicrucian literature were attempts to thwart a culture, based on the independence of thought that was taking root inside the very establishment, representing a menace to its stability.
From the pre-publication reviews:
Average customer rating:
- Good, but not great selection of essays.
- Enlightenment is eye opening
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The Rosicrucian Enlightenment Revisited
Paul Bembridge ,
Joscelyn Godwin ,
Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke ,
Claire Goodrick-Clarke ,
Christopher McIntosh ,
Robert Sardello , and
Christopher Bamford
Manufacturer: Lindisfarne Books
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Binding: Paperback
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The Rosicrucian Enlightenment (Routledge Classics) (Routledge Classics)
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The Rosicrucians: The History, Mythology, and Rituals of an Esoteric Order
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Robert Fludd: Western Esoteric Masters Series
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The Occult Philosophy in the Elizabethan Age (Routledge Classics) (Routledge Classics)
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The Golden Builders: Alchemists, Rosicrucians, First Freemasons
ASIN: 0940262843 |
Book Description
In 1995, the New York Open Center (in association with Gnosis Magazine and Oibibio in Amsterdam) invited students of Rosicrucianism and the Western Mystery traditions to Cesky Krumlow in the Czech Republic to discuss the historical backgrounds of Rosicrucianism. This gathering celebrated the role of Central Europe in the spiritual history of the West as well as the work of the Renaissance Hermetic scholar Dame Frances Yates. Two years later a second meeting was held in Prague to celebrate the Hermetic world of Rudolf II. This book is the result.
In this unique and stimulating collection, John Matthews addresses the relationship between the Grail and the Rose; Christopher Bamford speaks of the prehistory of the Rosicrucian reformation in the late Middle Ages-among women mystics, alchemists, Cathars, Franciscan spirituals, as well as in Luther and the great Paracelsus; Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke tells the wild tale of John Dee's mission to central Europe; Joscelyn Godwin unfolds the paradigmatic Rosicrucian life of Michael Maier; Claire Goodrick-Clarke recounts influence of Comenius; Paul Bembridge speaks of Rosicrucian Resurgence at the Court of Cromwell; Rafal Prinke tells the story of the Polish alchemist, Sendivogius; Robert Powell brings together Tycho Brahe, Johannes Kepler, and Rudolf II during the Prague Renaissance; and Christopher McIntosh speaks of the Rosicrucian Legacy.
Also included are the texts of two Rosicrucian Manifestos, the "Fama" and the "Confessio." Includes numerous illustrations.
Customer Reviews:
Good, but not great selection of essays........2001-11-05
In light of recent documentary discoveries in a number of European archives, I had high hopes that this volume would further the body of research into the Rosicrucian movement. Ultimately, it did, but in ways I did not anticipate.
There are some essential works here (Joscelyn Godwin's excellent meditation on Michael Maier and Rafael T. Prinke's article on Michael Sendivogius immediately spring to mind: both of which demonstrate the varities of meaning Rosicrucianism took on to those who sought to perpetuate the movement in different contexts) but also much filler. Too many of the contributions collected in this volume re-state a body of knowledge familiar to all students of the subject. Due to the original format of these contributions (i.e., speeches) this knowledge is -understandably- not communicated in a particularly useful fashion.
Having said that, this volume is worth its price of entry. However the content is certainly a mixed bag.
Lastly, the translations of the Rosicrucian manifestos contained in this volume are those of Thomas Vaughan's mid 17th century edition of the Fama and Confessio .
Enlightenment is eye opening.......2001-01-11
Before the 'New Age' there was the "Rosicrucian Enlightenment". At the beginning of the 17th century, a new awakening was heralded throughout Europe, announcing the universal reform of all known areas of human activity - religion, science, art, and society were to become one being. The chief proponents of this great awakening were the mysterious "Rosicrucians". Nearly 400 years after the first seeds of this movement were planted, over 100 students, authors, and scholars of traditional Western esotericism, of which Rosicrucianism is the foremost exponent, gathered in the medieval town of Czesky Krumolv in the Czech Republic, to discuss, explore, and in someway, reopen the 'Vault of Christian Rosencreutz' once again.
"The Rosicrucian Enlightenment Revisited" contains nine essays on the early Rosicrucian movement presented at this landmark conference sponsored in part by The New York Open Center, and copies of the first two Rosicrucian Manifestoes, the "Fama" and the "Confessio". It is a great read and ideal for anyone interested in what is truly the heart and soul of Western esotericism - the Rosicrucian Enlightenment.
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- Occult and Secret Societies in 18th-Century Politics
- Occult and Secret Societies in 18th-Century Politics
- Best Study of 18th Century German occultism out there.
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The Rose Cross and the Age of Reason: Eighteenth-Century Rosicrucianism in Central Europe and Its Relationship to the Enlightenment (Brill's Studies in Intellectual History)
Christopher McIntosh
Manufacturer: Brill Academic Pub
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Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 9004095020 |
Book Description
The Rose Cross deals with the interaction between two movements of thought in eighteenth-century Germany: the philosophy of the Enlightenment, and the complex of ideas known as Rosicrucian. Dating from the early seventeenth century and drawing on Pietism, Freemasonry, Kabbalah and alchemy, the Rosicrucianism movement enjoyed a revival in Germany during the eighteenth century. Historians have often depicted this neo-Rosicrucianism as a Counter-Enlightenment force. Dr. McIntosh argues rather that it was part of a "third force", which allied itself sometimes with the Enlightenment, sometimes with the Counter-Enlightenment. This book is the first in-depth, comprehensive study of the German Rosicrucian revival and in particular of the order known as the Golden and Rosy Cross (Gold und Rosenkreuz). Drawing on hitherto unpublished material, Dr. McIntosh shows how the order exerted a significant influence on the cultural, political and religious life of its age.
Customer Reviews:
Occult and Secret Societies in 18th-Century Politics.......2002-09-05
Publications about Freemasonry and its history tend to fall into two classes - the first written by and for Freemasons and of little interest to anyone else; the second sensational and denunciatory, portraying the Craft as a diabolic conspiracy against God and man. Academic historians have mostly paid little attention to Freemasonry, perhaps because it has seemed the province of dabblers and fanatics. Christopher McIntosh is neither, and has treated an interesting period in history during which offshoots of the Craft had significant social and political importance, in a sensible and factual way, and with impeccable scholarship.
Much has been made by conspiracy theorists of Adam Weishaupt's Illuminati, attributing to it all manner of sinister influence. Yet, as McIntosh shows, a system of hautes-grades Freemasonry called the Gold- und Rosenkreuz both had a longer life and achieved actual political influence the Illuminati never did. Two cabinet ministers of the Prussian King Frederick William II, Johann Christof Wöllner and Johann Rudolf von Bischoffswerder, were the chiefs of this order, and the king was a member. Under the ministry of Wöllner and Bischoffswerder, the Prussian government sought to enforce a rigorous Lutheran orthodoxy against the rising tide of "enlightened" scepticism and scientism. Wöllner and Bischoffswerder have been described as "the first self-consciously conservative politicians in German history." Throughout the Holy Roman Empire, Gold- und Rosenkreuz circles found themselves in rivalry with Illuminati groups, as McIntosh describes in his chapter on "The Polemical Stance of the Gold- und Rosenkreuz."
While this episode of Masonic history has understandably been neglected by the conspiracy theorists, because it does not fit their preconceptions, some German historians have represented the Gold- und Rosenkreuz as a completely reactionary, anti-Aufklärung force. McIntosh shows that this was really not true, and that the Gold- und Rosenkreuz represented a different size of the phenomenon we refer to as the Enlightenment. The philosophical ferment of the eighteenth century incorporated Adam Smith, Samuel Johnson, and Edmund Burke as well as Voltaire, Helvétius, LaMettrie and Rousseau. It is facile to equate the Enlightenment with the views of a few French philosophes.
Although the political influence of the Gold- und Rosenkreuz petered out with the death of Frederick William II, its cultural influence lasted well into the nineteenth century and extended as far east as Russia, and as far west as Great Britain, where the Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia was founded using the ritual and grade structure of the Gold- und Rosenkreuz. This, in turn, gave rise to the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, which attracted a curious blend of literary and artistic figures, wealthy dilettantes, and a few charlatans like Mathers and Crowley.
What I wish McIntosh had pointed out more explicitly is that the importance of secret and semi-secret groups in politics is inversely proportional to the degree of freedom in the body politic. In Great Britain, the wellspring of speculative Freemasonry, the Craft never developed a political character, because the country was a constitutional monarchy. Representative government (if not complete democracy) and substantial latitude in public discourse (if not perfect freedom of speech) already existed there by the eighteenth century. Prussia, in contrast, was an absolute monarchy. Public dissent from the policies of government was suppressed as thoroughly as possible. In such a climate, masonic lodges became hospitable refuges for those having political aims, which were facilitated by members' pledges of secrecy and mutual assistance. Everywhere "political" freemasonry continues to exist in continental Europe and Latin America similarly had or has a comparable pattern of repressing open political dialogue.
Furthermore, as Eric Voegelin has pointed out in his "New Science of Politics," there is an affinity between gnosticism and totalitarianism. The latter has philosophical roots in the former. On the continent of Europe there are two streams of gnosticism that arguably have led to competing totalitarian systems. One, flowing from French philosophes like d'Alembert and Rousseau, through Weishaupt, to early nineteenth-century German rationalist philosophers, ultimately ends in the swamp of Marxism. The other, represented by the occultism of the Gold- und Rosenkreuz, flows through German romanticism, antiquarianism, and pseudo-scientific philology, among others to Nietzsche, Lanz "von Liebenfels," Glauer "von Sebottendorf," as well as through Blavatsky, Guénon, Evola, and empties into Fascism and Nazism. However different these systems may seem, both propose to build utopian societies in which men will be "as gods." It should be no surprise that they have come a-cropper even more disastrously than did the efforts of Wöllner and Bischoffswerder.
Occult and Secret Societies in 18th-Century Politics.......2002-09-05
Publications about Freemasonry and its history tend to fall into two classes - the first written by and for Freemasons and of little interest to anyone else; the second sensational and denunciatory, portraying the Craft as a diabolic conspiracy against God and man. Academic historians have mostly paid little attention to Freemasonry, perhaps because it has seemed the province of dabblers and fanatics. Christopher McIntosh is neither, and has treated an interesting period in history during which offshoots of the Craft had significant social and political importance, in a sensible and factual way, and with impeccable scholarship.
Much has been made by conspiracy theorists of Adam Weishaupt's Illuminati, attributing to it all manner of sinister influence. Yet, as McIntosh shows, a system of hautes-grades Freemasonry called the Gold- und Rosenkreuz both had a longer life and achieved actual political influence the Illuminati never did. Two cabinet ministers of the Prussian King Frederick William II, Johann Christof Wöllner and Johann Rudolf von Bischoffswerder, were the chiefs of this order, and the king was a member. Under the ministry of Wöllner and Bischoffswerder, the Prussian government sought to enforce a rigorous Lutheran orthodoxy against the rising tide of "enlightened" scepticism and scientism. Wöllner and Bischoffswerder have been described as "the first self-consciously conservative politicians in German history." Throughout the Holy Roman Empire, Gold- und Rosenkreuz circles found themselves in rivalry with Illuminati groups, as McIntosh describes in his chapter on "The Polemical Stance of the Gold- und Rosenkreuz."
While this episode of Masonic history has understandably been neglected by the conspiracy theorists, because it does not fit their preconceptions, some German historians have represented the Gold- und Rosenkreuz as a completely reactionary, anti-Aufklärung force. McIntosh shows that this was really not true, and that the Gold- und Rosenkreuz represented a different size of the phenomenon we refer to as the Enlightenment. The philosophical ferment of the eighteenth century incorporated Adam Smith, Samuel Johnson, and Edmund Burke as well as Voltaire, Helvétius, LaMettrie and Rousseau. It is facile to equate the Enlightenment with the views of a few French philosophes.
While the political influence of the Gold- und Rosenkreuz petered out with the death of Frederick William II, its cultural influence lasted well into the nineteenth century and extended as far east as Russia, and as far west as Great Britain, where the Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia was founded using the ritual and grade structure of the Gold- und Rosenkreuz. This, in turn, gave rise to the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, which attracted a curious blend of literary and artistic figures, wealthy dilettantes, and a few charlatans like Mathers and Crowley.
What I wish McIntosh had pointed out more explicitly is that the importance of secret and semi-secret groups in politics is inversely proportional to the degree of freedom in the body politic. In Great Britain, the wellspring of speculative Freemasonry, the Craft never developed a political character, because the country was a constitutional monarchy. Representative government (if not complete democracy) and substantial latitude in public discourse (if not perfect freedom of speech) already existed there by the eighteenth century. Prussia, in contrast, was an absolute monarchy. Public dissent from the policies of government was suppressed as thoroughly as possible. In such a climate, masonic lodges became hospitable refuges for those having political aims, which were facilitated by members' pledges of secrecy and mutual assistance. Everywhere "political" freemasonry continues to exist in continental Europe and Latin America similarly had or has a comparable pattern of repressing open political dialogue.
Furthermore, as Eric Voegelin has pointed out in his "New Science of Politics," there is an affinity between gnosticism and totalitarianism. The latter has philosophical roots in the former. On the continent of Europe there are two streams of gnosticism that arguably have led to competing totalitarian systems. One, flowing from French philosophes like d'Alembert and Rousseau, through Weishaupt, to early nineteenth-century German rationalist philosophers, ultimately ends in the swamp of Marxism. The other, represented by the occultism of the Gold- und Rosenkreuz, flows through German romanticism, antiquarianism, and pseudo-scientific philology, among others to Nietzsche, Lanz "von Liebenfels," Glauer "von Sebottendorf," as well as through Blavatsky, Guénon, Evola, and empties into Fascism and Nazism. However different these systems may seem, both propose to build utopian societies in which men will be "as gods." It should be no surprise that they have come a-cropper even more disastrously than did the efforts of Wöllner and Bischoffswerder.
Best Study of 18th Century German occultism out there........2000-07-11
If you're here because you're looking for it--then you've found it. "The Rose Cross and the Age of Reason" provides a much needed re-evaluation of 18th century esoteric movements in Continential Europe, especially in Germany. The study is an evaluation of the structure, rituals, and doctrine of the Gold und Rosencreutz, an esoteric but politically powerful Rosicrucian order in Germany from about 1760 to the end of the 18th century. Many governent officials, as well as merchants and other professionals, were members of this order, which practiced an austere Christianity, but one powerfully symbolic as well. Alchemy and masonry also came to the fore in this study.
McIntosh's judgment is that the evaluate literature so far has painted occultism, especially German esotericism, as anti-Enlightenment in structure, doctrine, and function. This is commonly explained by the pietism of its members, who were resistant tor openly hostile to Cartesian science and metaphysics. The "G und R" also became involved in a conservative, perhaps even reactionary monarchy in Prussia (King Frederick William II). As this Rosicrucian movement gained power, it drew the ire of a number of Enlightnment critics, and a secret society, the Bavarian Illuminati, was formed in part to oppose it.
McIntosh demonstrates conclusively that simply judging the G und R as anti-Enlightenment is not the case, and he suggests a more nuanced view. To do this, McIntosh identifies three modalities of thought that were operative at the time in 18th century Germany, an Enlightenment mode, represented by Kant and others, the Orthodox churches (Catholic, Lutheran, and Reformed) and a variety of Hermetic Neoplatonism, informed by Kabbalistic (both Jewish and Christian) discourse and alchemy, both theorectical and practical. Between the Orthodox religious views (the Counter-Enlightenment) and the Aufklarer, the Neoplatonic intellectual mode argued for a metaphysics illuminated by divine quintessance at every level. Drawing on classic Gnosticism and German Protestant Pietism, this Hermetic strain that gave birth to the G und R shared some characteristics with each of the other two movements. Like orthodox Christianity, the G und R held to a mostly world-negative cosmology and pessimistic epistemology, and taught that before all else men must fear and rever Jesus Christ. However, Pietism, Kabbalah and other influences gave it a strong emphasis on self-development towards the Kingdom of the Paraclete, and as such nationalistic development toward this idea as well. Reason and Science were encouraged so long as they took place within this religious telos, and many of the G und R and associated occultists found themselves on this list of prohibited books in Rome. Relations with the clergy were sometimes tense, and the G und R at times made moves to silence Counter-Enlightment clergy when they felt their interests threatened.
What this text adds to a dicussion of esotericism and intellectual culture is a better framework of understanding the relationship of these metaphysical and religious movements and their influence on culture. In much of the scholarly literature and popular imagination, such religious and magical movements represent a return to "irrationality" and as such can easily be dismissed by Enlightenment discourse as unworthy cultural productions. McIntosh's text recontextualizes occultism and shows that it can (and has) had a pervasive cultural impact at crucial times and places.
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Books Index
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