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MIT Literature Section presents, Lara Cohen “‘To Drop beneath the Floors of the Outer World’: Paschal Beverly Randolph’s Occult Undergrounds”

14E-304 160 MEMORIAL DR, CAMBRIDGE

Abstract: This talk focuses on Paschal Beverly Randolph (1825-1875), self-described “angular and eccentric” writer, Freedmen’s Bureau teacher, occultist, and sex magician. Antiblackness thwarted Randolph at every turn in his short life, but he contended that his experiences of alienation and hyperawareness had cultivated spiritual sensitivities that allowed him to access an unseen universe. Randolph wrote numerous handbooks, pamphlets, novels, memoirs, newspaper articles, and manifestos expounding his occult thought.

Literature Section
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
77 Massachusetts Avenue 14N-407
Cambridge, MA 02139
tel: (617) 253-3581