Lure of the Arcane

This is an excellent book, an original and substantial contribution. I would expect it to find many readers, not just among fellow scholars. Since conspiracy, and conspiracy fiction, is a hot topic, I could imagine this book being invaluable as a guide to a university course that sought to place Umberto Eco and Dan Brown in their long-term intellectual context. -- Ritchie Robertson, St. John's College, Oxford Revealing, stimulating, suggestive. -- Francis Blessington, Northeastern University

After much investigation, Ziolkowski reinforces Umberto Eco's notion that the most powerful secret, the magnetic center of conspiracy fiction, is in fact "a secret without content."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 genre's 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 center of conspiracy fiction, is in fact "a secret without content."