Please recommend some books dealing with Gnostic imagery, themes, subject matter etc.

[capek]

I've read a couple of books recently dealing with "Gnostic" themes, and found them to make for quite intriguing subject matter. Specifically M. John Harrison's The Course of the Heart and PKD's Valis and The Divine Invasion. So I'm wondering what other good novels are out there dealing with such themes. I guess The Da vinci Code would fit that criteria. Any others? I'm sure there have to be more. I'm mainly looking for stuff that fits in that same general style of authors like Harrison and Philip K Dick, post-modern type stuff in particular. But really any suggestions of books dealing with Gnostic themes would be great. So if anybody here has any suggestions, I'd really appreciate hearing them.

Thanks a lot. :)

[Demian]

Hermann Hesse's Demian is a good one. Hesse was described by one critic as being the foremost authority on Gnosticism in Germany in his day. He is not postmodern, however. Also Umberto Eco's Foucalt's Pendulum is very good if you are looking for something post modern. If you'd like to read something on the subject that is not fictional try Elaine Pagels Adam, Eve and the Serpent, The Gnostic Gospels or The Gnostics by Tobias Church. These are two of the most accessable scholars out there.

[capek]

Thanks for the suggestions. I probably shouldn't have put the post-modern criteria in there. It tends to be what I'm more drawn towards fiction-wise, but really I can appreciate and enjoy any style. I'll definitely check out the two novels you suggested. I listened to Elaine Pagels' The Gnostic Gospels audiobook a couple weeks back, which was somewhat illuminating, though I found her views well balanced by some lectures given by Luke Timothy Johnson for TTC on the subject, in his series "Jesus and the Gospels". But still, Pagels seems a very good avenue for information on the subject, so I'll definitely be picking up some more of her works on the subject when I have the time.

[Demian]

Have you read the other 2 in the Valis trilogy? The name of the second escapes me, but the third is called The Transmigration of Timothy Archer. Both were great. The second one really dives deep into gnosticism. Other Gnostic gems were The Cosmic Puppets, The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch or The Eye in the Sky. I was just thinking of Canto 33 from Dante's Paradisio (a gift from PKD) where it reads in his own commentary: God is the Book of the Universe. Very nice.
If you needed some more suggestions on non fiction let me know. And welcome to the Literature Forums.

[capek]

Thanks for the welcome. It's cool to have a place like this, that will hopefully balance out the "junk" (home theater, sports, anime) forums I usually spend my internet time on.

Ya, I've read his last two books, and most of his others. The name of the second is The Divine Invasion, an utterly brilliant book of religious synthesis, and just such a beautiful book in general. Last year buy.com was running a special in conjunction with google checkout where, by using google checkout you'd get $10 off orders of $30+ and $20 off orders of $50+, so I bought basically his whole bibliography, and have been rationing them out over the past ~year. I have about 5 left, and suffice to say he has become one of my favorite authors. The gnostic themes in Valis and The Divine Invasion are obvious, but because I read his other novels before really becoming aware of gnosticism, I didn't pick up that connection at all. But now that you mention it, the theme of "the force of good invading the insane world" is prevalent in a lot of his works. When I get around to rereading his stuff I'll have to keep an eye out for that and any other gnostic themes that might exist.

btw I just placed orders for Demian and Foucault's Pendulum on amazon marketplace. Definitely looking forward to checking those out.

[Demian]

You should also try The Last Temptation of Christ by Nikos Kazantsakis (sp?). I get something new out of it each time I read it. That book has really illuminated the Gospels for me. And I love the movie. This was the closest conception of Christ ever put on film, in my opinion. If you read it, go and pick up something on the Gospel of Judas. You'll think that Nikos channeled this book...