Download or read book The Alchemist in Literature written by Theodore Ziolkowski and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2015 with total page 252 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This study traces the figure of the alchemist in Western literature from its first appearance in Dante down to the present. From the beginning alchemy has had two aspects: exoteric or operative (the transmutation of baser metals into gold) and esoteric or speculative (the spiritual transformation of the alchemist himself). As scholarly interest in alchemy intensified, writers were attracted to the figure of the alchemist and his quest for power. The figure of the alchemist in literature provides a seismograph for major shifts in intellectual and cultural history.