Saturday, May 05, 2007

Guénon and Daumal

I've just found an excellent book for those interested in Guénon's impact on French artistic circles, specifically René Daumal's Le grand jeu group and André Breton and the Surrealists.

The book is Kathleen Ferrick Rosenblatt, René Daumal: The Life and Work of a Mystic Guide (Albany: SUNY Press, 1999; 252 pages, ISBN 0791436330).

René Daumal (1908-44) started with Guénon and ended with Gurdjieff. Ferrick Rosenblatt sensitively examines the points where Daumal and Guénon coincided, and where they (and Breton) differed, placing this in the context of the Fremch artistic milieu. Though she is evidentl herself engaged and sometimes reveals her sympathies, the book satisfies normal scholarly requirements--as well as being very readable. Strongly recommended, and available from the traditionalists.org bookstore.

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