A Cultural History of the Soul: Europe and North America from 1870 to the Present

349 Pages·2022·4.223 MB·English

by  Kocku von Stuckrad

a cultural history
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of the Soul
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kocku von stuckrad
A CULTURAL HISTORY OF THE SOUL

A CULTURAL HISTORY
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of the Soul
EUROPE AND NORTH AMERICA
FROM 1870 TO THE PRESENT
kocku von stuckrad
Columbia University Press New York
Columbia University Press
Publishers Since 1893
New York Chichester, West Sussex
cup . columbia . edu
Copyright © 2022 Columbia University Press
All rights reserved
Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data
Names: Stuckrad, Kocku von, 1966– author.
Title: A cultural history of the soul: Europe and
North America from 1870 to the Present / Kocku von Stuckrad.
Description: New York : Columbia University Press, 2021. | Includes
bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2021014475 (print) | LCCN 2021014476 (ebook) |
ISBN 9780231200363 (hardback) | ISBN 9780231200370 (trade paperback) |
ISBN 9780231553575 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Soul— History. | Europe— Civilization— History. |
North America— Civilization— History.
Classification: LCC BD421 .S85 2021 (print) | LCC BD421 (ebook) |
DDC 128/.1— dc23
LC record available at https:// lccn . loc . gov / 2021014475
LC ebook record available at https:// lccn . loc . gov / 2021014476
Columbia University Press books are printed on permanent
and durable acid-f ree paper.
Printed in the United States of America
Cover image: Blue Fox, 1911 (oil on canvas), by Franz Marc (1880–1916).
Courtesy Von der Heydt Museum, Wuppertal, Germany / Bridgeman Images.
Cover design: Lisa Hamm
For Hans G. Kippenberg on the occasion
of his eightieth birthday
J

CONTENTS
Acknowledgments ix
Prologue: The Crisis of the Soul
in the Twentieth Century xiii
Part I: The Soul in Its Cultural Setting
Between 1870 and 1930
1. Nature Research, Psychology, and Occultism
in the Nineteenth Century 3
2. Fascination with the Soul in Religion, Art,
Philosophy, and Science 27
3. The Mobilization of the Soul in Political
and Nationalistic Settings 53
4. Carl Gustav Jung: Psychology as a Comprehensive
Empirical Science of the Soul 76
5. Occultism, the Natural Sciences,
and Spirituality Before 1930 95
viii CONTENTS
Part II: From Europe to America and Back:
The Soul Goes Mainstream
6. Transpersonal Psychology: The Soul’s Cosmic Potential 127
7. The Renaissance of Naturphilosophie: Quantum Mysticism,
Cosmic Consciousness, and the Planetary Soul 156
8. The Soul as the Lodestar of New Spiritual Practices 172
9. The Soul as a Central Motif in Literature and Film 189
10. Ecological Movements, Scientific Aesthetics,
and the Sacralization of the Earth 208
Epilogue: A Cultural Studies Soul Retrieval 241
Notes 247
Bibliography 287
Index 311
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
A
Cultural History of the Soul is the English version of a text that
came out in 2019 under the German title Die Seele im 20. Jahr-
hundert: Eine Kulturgeschichte (Wilhelm Fink Press). For the
English edition, I went through the text thoroughly once more and revised
it in a number of ways, both in response to feedback from readers (includ-
ing the peer reviews for Columbia University Press) and in order to
strengthen and clarify my argument. I also adjusted some of the content for
an English- speaking readership. I want to thank Wendy Lochner from
Columbia University Press for her interest in this work and for her contin-
ued support and encouragement.
Most of the research for this book was carried out during a sabbatical I
spent in Berlin, a city I also call my home. Berlin is a place where history
is omnipresent, where light and shadow exist— and are allowed to exist—
side by side, as in hardly any other city. It is a city that reinvents itself again
and again with an incredible vitality, without ever being pretentious; a city
where failure and renewal have become a way of life that frees creativity
and provides air to breathe. Berlin has a presence that unfolds in encoun-
ters between places and people. The first part of this book is full of people
who have shaped Berlin and with whom the city has made history.
Many of the people who have helped to write this book do not belong to
the human species. The birds, foxes, squirrels, mice, dogs, trees, and plants