'A Course of Severe and Arduous Trials' : Bacon, Beckett and Spurious Freemasonry in Early Twentieth-Century Ireland

• Tác giả: Lynn Brunet
• Ngôn ngữ: eng
• ISBN-13: 978-3035300789
• ISBN-13: 978-3039118540
• Ký hiệu phân loại: 700.455 The arts Fine and decorative arts
• Thông tin xuất bản: Bern : Peter Lang International Academic Publishers, 2009
• Mô tả vật lý: 1 electronic resource (218 p.)
• Bộ sưu tập: Tài liệu truy cập mở
• ID: 241220
• Chủ đề: 1. History of art & design styles: c 1800 to c 1900; 2. Literary studies: from c 1900 -; 3. Religion: general; 4. Spirituality & religious experience; 5. The arts: general issues; 6. Theatre studies

Tóm tắt

The artist Francis Bacon (1909-1992) and the writer Samuel Beckett (1906-1989) both convey in their work a sense of foreboding and confinement in bleak, ritualistic spaces. This book identifies many similarities between the spaces and activities they evoke and the initiatory practices of fraternal orders and secret societies that were an integral part of the social landscape of the Ireland experienced by both men during childhood. Many of these Irish societies modelled their ritual structures and symbolism on the Masonic Order. Freemasons use the term 'spurious Freemasonry' to designate those rituals not sanctioned by the Grand Lodge. The Masonic author Albert Mackey argues that the spurious forms were those derived from the various cult practices of the classical world and describes these initiatory practices as 'a course of severe and arduous trials'. This reading of Bacon's and Beckett's work draws on theories of trauma to suggest that there may be a disturbing link between Bacon's stark imagery, Beckett's obscure performances and the unofficial use of Masonic rites.