Neo-Pagan (literature)

Neo-Pagan (literature)

Neopagan is a term for a type of vital philosophy expressed in 20th century literary criticism. This use does not indicate any literal paganism in the religious sense at all. It connotes, rather, a form of positive existentialism comprising an attitude to the environment in which the immediate is indulged in to the fullest, with tomorrow left to fend for itself. To quote from Cyril Connolly's introduction to the first English edition of Albert Camus' "L'étranger":

'Meursault represents the neo-pagan, a reversion to Mediterranean man as once he was in Corinth or Carthage or Alexandria or Tarshish, as he is today in Casablanca or Southern California. He is sensual and well-meaning, profoundly in love with life, whose least pleasures, from a bathe to a yawn, afford him complete and silent gratification. He lives without anxiety in a continuous present and has no need to think or to express himself; there is no Nordic why-clause in his pact with nature.'

By this definition, Ernest Hemingway's philosophy can be construed as neo-pagan, becoming explicitly so towards the end of his life in "True at First Light" in which he advocates an ancient hunter religion based upon Gitche Manitou, in contrast to Islamic monotheism.

This interpretation of paganism as existence in a 'continuous present' is wryly mocked by Dorothy Parker in her poem "The Flaw in Paganism". [http://poetry.poetryx.com/poems/4966/]


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем сделать НИР

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Neo-Pagan (disambiguation) — Neo Pagan (neo pagan, Neopagan, neopagan) may refer to: Neopagan new religious movements List of Neopagan movements Romanticist Philhellenism, Celtic revival or Viking revival Neo Pagan (literature) Neopagan, a 2006 album by Paolo Rustichelli See …   Wikipedia

  • Neo-völkisch movements — Neo völkisch movements, as defined by the historian Nicholas Goodrick Clarke, cover a wide variety of mutually influencing groups of a radically ethnocentric character which have emerged, especially in the English speaking world, since World War… …   Wikipedia

  • Neo-druidism — or neo druidry (referred to simply as Druidry by some adherents) is a form of modern spirituality or religion that promotes harmony and worship of nature, and respect for all beings, including the environment. It is considered to be a Neopagan… …   Wikipedia

  • Neo-Nazism — Part of a series on Nazism …   Wikipedia

  • Neo-fascism and religion — This series is linked to the Politics and Elections series Part of the Politics series on Neo Fascism …   Wikipedia

  • Neo-Platonism — Eyjólfur K.Emilsson GENERAL INTRODUCTION Neo Platonism is usually defined as the philosophy of Plotinus, who lived in the third century AD, and his followers in the pagan Graeco Roman world in late antiquity. The most significant philosophers… …   History of philosophy

  • Neo-Pythagorean Philosophy — • An ethico religious society founded by Pythagoras, which flourished especially in Magna Graecia in the fifth century B.C. Catholic Encyclopedia. Kevin Knight. 2006. Neo Pythagorean Philosophy     Neo Pythagorean Philoso …   Catholic encyclopedia

  • NEO-NAZISM — NEO NAZISM, a general term for the related fascist, nationalist, white supremacist, antisemitic beliefs and political tendencies of the numerous groups that emerged after World War II seeking to restore the Nazi order or to establish a new order… …   Encyclopedia of Judaism

  • Irish Literature — • It is uncertain at what period and in what manner the Irish discovered the use of letters. It may have been through direct commerce with Gaul, but it is more probable, as McNeill has shown in his study of Irish oghams, that it was from the… …   Catholic encyclopedia

  • Early Irish literature — Contents 1 The earliest Irish authors 2 The Old Irish glosses 3 Existing manuscript literature 3.1 Early Irish epic or saga …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”