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Lure of the Arcane:

The Literature of Cult and Conspiracy
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Fascination with the arcane is a driving force in this comprehensive survey of conspiracy fiction. Theodore Ziolkowski traces the evolution of cults, orders, lodges, secret societies, and conspiracies through various literary manifestations - drama, romance, epic, novel, opera - down to the thrillers of the twenty-first century. Lure of the Arcane considers Euripides's Bacchae, Andreae's Chymical Wedding, Mozart's The Magic Flute, and Eco's Foucault's Pendulum, among other seminal works. Mimicking the genres quest-driven narrative arc, the reader searches for the significance of conspiracy fiction and is rewarded with the author's cogent reflections in the final chapter. After much investigation, Ziolkowski reinforces Umberto Eco's notion that the most powerful secret, the magnetic centre of conspiracy fiction, is in fact 'a secret without content.'

Preface
Introduction
1. The Mystery Cults of Antiquity
2. The Order of Knights Templar in the Middle Ages
3. The Rosicrucians of the Post-Reformation
4. The Lodges of the Enlightenment
5. Secret Societies of Romantic Socialism
6. Modern Variations
7. Interlude: The Protocols of the Elders of Zion
8. The Playfulness of Postmodernism
Conclusion
Notes
Index

""The wealth of examples, the lively and indeed intimate writing style, and the delicate refusal to go too far in the analysis of paranoid fantasies all contribute to a welcome dealing with mystery, secrecy, and the arcane.""

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