''Emergence from Chaos'' is a 1957 book by the English writer Stuart Holroyd. In the first part of the book, Holroyd discusses different types of spirituality, while in the second part—roughly two thirds of the book—these distinctions are used to analyse the works of six different poets, each of whom reacted to the issues of

modernity Modernity, a topic in the humanities and social sciences, is both a historical period (the modern era) and the ensemble of particular Society, socio-Culture, cultural Norm (social), norms, attitudes and practices that arose in the wake of the ...

with his own spiritual vision. The book was Holroyd's debut and is associated with the phenomenon of the Angry Young Men.

;Part one * Two kinds of religious experience * Sinner, saint and mystic * Art and religion * The Renaissance of destiny ;Part two *

Dylan Thomas Dylan Marlais Thomas (27 October 1914 – 9 November 1953) was a Welsh poet and writer, whose works include the poems " Do not go gentle into that good night" and " And death shall have no dominion", as well as the "play for voices" ''Un ...

and the religion of the instinctive life *

Walt Whitman Walter Whitman Jr. (; May 31, 1819 – March 26, 1892) was an American poet, essayist, and journalist; he also wrote two novels. He is considered one of the most influential poets in American literature and world literature. Whitman incor ...

's healthy-mindedness * W.B. Yeats: the divided man * Angel and demon: a study of

Arthur Rimbaud Jean Nicolas Arthur Rimbaud (, ; ; 20 October 1854 – 10 November 1891) was a French poet known for his transgressive and surreal themes and for his influence on modern literature and arts, prefiguring surrealism. Born in Charleville, he s ...

Rilke René Karl Wilhelm Johann Josef Maria Rilke (4 December 1875 – 29 December 1926), known as Rainer Maria Rilke, was an Austrian poet and novelist. Acclaimed as an idiosyncratic and expressive poet, he is widely recognized as a significant ...

: the visionary individualist *

T.S. Eliot Thomas Stearns Eliot (26 September 18884 January 1965) was a poet, essayist and playwright.Bush, Ronald. "T. S. Eliot's Life and Career", in John A Garraty and Mark C. Carnes (eds), ''American National Biography''. New York: Oxford University ...

and the 'intellectual soul'

Publication

The book was published in 1957 by V. Gollancz, which previously had published

Colin Wilson Colin Henry Wilson (26 June 1931 – 5 December 2013) was an English existentialist philosopher-novelist. He also wrote widely on true crime, mysticism and the paranormal, eventually writing more than a hundred books. Wilson called his p ...

's '' The Outsider''. An American edition appeared the same year through

Houghton Mifflin The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a heraldic star. Computer scientists and mathematicians often vocalize it as ...

Reception

Burns Singer wrote in '' Encounter'': "Repeatedly, whenever I have met him, Mr Stuart Holroyd has struck me as an unusually intelligent, modest, and cultivated young man. His book, unfortunately, displays none of these qualities, unless it be in homeopathic doses." Singer continued: "Mr Holroyd's mind is quite obviously of the kind that can absorb a good deal of experience, that needs years to mature. In this he differs from the figure with whom he will inevitably be compared, Mr

. ... But he does need these years." William Bittner of the '' Saturday Review'' wrote that "Holroyd's discussions of individual poets are fascinating but uneven". Bittner's main objection was to Holroyd's rejection of

materialism Materialism is a form of monism, philosophical monism according to which matter is the fundamental Substance theory, substance in nature, and all things, including mind, mental states and consciousness, are results of material interactions. Acco ...

: "The flaw in Holroyd's thinking lies in his antiquated notion about the mystical artist. All truly great artists are mystics, but mystics with a difference. They seek, not to be unified with deity, but to be unified with the world as it is." Bittner nevertheless described the book as "sensitive and perceptive".

References

{{Angry young men 1957 non-fiction books Books about poets Books about spirituality Debut books English non-fiction books English-language non-fiction books Victor Gollancz Ltd books

Contents

Publication

Reception

References