The Age of Atheists: How We Have Sought to Live Since the Death of God

by Watson, Peter

  cruelty in, 450

  death in, 240

  ending of, 201

  existentialism and, 336

  Futurists and, 117–18

  heroes and, 189, 190

  impact of, 211, 240, 295

  irony and, 195–96

  machine in, 117–18

  metal in, 117–18

  nationalism and, 191, 200

  patriotism and, 191

  poetry and, 146, 189–90, 193, 194–95, 197

  psychic phenomena and, 196

  redemption and, 189, 192, 193, 197

  religion and, 195

  socialism and, 193

  spiritualism and, 196

  welcoming of, 189–91, 200

  See also specific nation or specific person’s views

  World War II, 24, 51, 219, 329, 332, 334, 346–47, 359–60, 380, 387. See also atomic bomb

  Wotan, cult of, 318, 380

  Yaroslavsky, Emelian, 215, 216

  Yeats, John Butler, 165, 166, 169, 171, 173, 175, 176

  Yeats, W. B.:

  achievements of, 176

  androgynous man and, 268

  art/arts and, 164, 165, 172

  automatic writing and, 198

  chaos and, 164

  choice and, 538

  Christianity and, 171, 172

  and drama, 173–74

  ecstasy and, 537

  and evil, 175

  evolution and, 176

  and exalted Yeatsism, 174–76

  as failure, 166, 176

  and fate, 174

  Yeats, W. B. (continued)

  fears of, 174

  Four Faculties of, 174

  George compared with, 151

  Gide and, 128, 130

  and God, 175

  as Golden Dawn member, 170

  and good, 175

  and happiness, 164

  and heroes, 170–74, 175, 176

  and history, 169, 174

  Ibsen compared with, 95

  and imagination, 175, 176

  imagination and, 175, 176

  and intensity, 461

  Ireland and, 169, 170–72, 173

  and joy, 164

  life and, 164, 175

  logic and, 164

  and love, 164

  Mallarmé’s influence on, 147, 164

  marriage of, 174

  mask and, 172, 173, 174

  and materialism, 166, 169, 171–72, 173, 176

  and meaning, 164

  and metaphors, 173

  and mind, 174

  mysticism/occult and, 166, 167, 169, 170, 171, 172, 175, 176, 182

  mythology and, 173, 176, 267

  nationalism and, 166, 170–71, 172, 175, 176

  Nietzsche’s influence on, 163–64

  and order, 163–66

  patriotism and, 171

  and perfection, 172

  and personality, 164, 174, 538

  and philosophy, 175

  and poetry, 147, 164, 165

  and psychology, 176

  and rationality, 169

  and reality, 169

  and reason, 164

  religion and, 164, 165, 173

  and salvation, 164

  self and, 461

  sensations and, 169

  significance of, 176

  soul and, 174

  spirituality and, 165, 172, 173

  and supernatural, 169, 172, 176, 179

  Symbolists influence on, 164

  Theosophy and, 168, 169, 170

  tragedy and, 164

  transcendence and, 165

  and unity, 172–73

  and wholeness, 164

  will and, 174

  Yeats, W. B.—works by:

  At the Hawk’s Well, 174

  “The Autumn of the Body,” 165

  “The Black Tower,” 176

  “Byzantium,” 175

  “The Choice,” 95

  Countess Cathleen: A Miracle Play, 172

  The Hour-Glass: A Morality, 172

  Per America Silentia Lunae, 173

  A Vision, 174, 175, 176

  Where There Is Nothing, 172

  yoga, 58, 414, 427

  Young, Lester, 403, 404

  youth:

  communist, 211–12, 215

  in Germany, 43, 51, 321

  as Nietzsche followers, 24–25, 36, 37

  vagabondage influence on, 42

  Zamyatin, Yevgeny, 450, 543

  Zen Buddhism, 395, 402, 412, 414, 415

  Zen potters, 394, 395

  Zweig, Stefan, 157, 189

  Simon & Schuster

  1230 Avenue of the Americas

  New York, NY 10020

  www.SimonandSchuster.com

  Copyright © 2014 by Peter Watson

  All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information, address Simon & Schuster Subsidiary Rights Department, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020.

  First Simon & Schuster hardcover edition February 2014

  SIMON & SCHUSTER and colophon are registered trademarks of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

  For information about special discounts for bulk purchases, please contact Simon & Schuster Special Sales at 1-866-506-1949 or business@simonandschuster.com.

  Cover image: Georges Seurat: A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grand Jatte (1884). A fashionable couple dressed in black and gray, who have just been to church, survey their fellow Parisians enjoying a raft of secular pleasures in a lakeside park.

  The Simon & Schuster Speakers Bureau can bring authors to your live event. For more information or to book an event, contact the Simon & Schuster Speakers Bureau at 1-866-248-3049 or visit our website at www.simonspeakers.com.

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available.

  ISBN 978-1-4767-5431-4

  ISBN 978-1-4767-5433-8 (ebook)