Voegelinian Readings of Modern Literature

Book excerpt: These essays supply a theoretical grounding for the reading of novels, poems, and plays and reveal how the Voegelinian perspective exposes the existential and philosophical dimensions of the literary works themselves. As a unit, this collection of essays shows how modern pieces of literature can symbolize their creators' participation in the human search for the truth of existence--just as myths, philosophical works, and religious texts always have. Voegelin's primary concern as a philosopher was to expose the roots of the disturbances of the modern era--religious conflict, imperialism, war--so that the sources of order leading to meaning are revealed. The openness of Voegelinian thought and the many ways he considered the levels of reality generate intriguing themes for literary criticism.