By looking at the occult, spiritualism and mysticism in one frame, this book argues that the unseen figures modernism's yearning for that which is beyond the materiality of the text, whether that 'text' be printed words on a page, paint on canvas, or the effects of light fixed on a screen. The birth of modernism resides not so much in notions of aesthetic autonomy, resisting the degradations of mass culture, but in an attempt to reclaim textuality as a magical practice
Cover; Copyright; CONTENTS; SERIES EDITORS' PREFACE; ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS; INTRODUCTION; 1. 'BUT THE FACTS OF LIFE PERSIST': MAGIC, EXPERIMENT AND THE PROBLEM OF REPRESENTING THE WORLD OTHERWISE; 2. 'AND WHAT HAS ALL THIS TO DO WITH EXPERIMENTAL WRITING?': WORDS AND GHOSTS; 3. A 'SUBTLE METAMORPHOSIS': SOUND, MIMESIS AND TRANSFORMATION; 4. 'HERE IS WHERE THE MAGIC IS': TELEPATHY AND EXPERIMENT IN FILM; 5. 'DISNEY AGAINST THE METAPHYSICALS': EISENSTEIN, POUND, ECTOPLASM AND THE POLITICS OF ANIMATION; BIBLIOGRAPHY; INDEX.