This book is an introductory examination of the Hermetic tradition in the Renaissance and how James Joyce made use of certain of its salient features in his four works of fiction: Dubliners, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Ulysses, and Finnegans Wake. This book makes a useful contribution to literary studies of Joyce’s work as well as introductory cultural studies of the Hermetic tradition, its philosophy and important figures, like Marsilio Ficino and Giordano Bruno.

Tom Absher received his Ph.D. in English Renaissance literature from the University of Pennsylvania. He has taught literature and creative writing in several small liberal arts colleges for forty years. His other published works include Men and the Goddess, as well as several collections of poetry.