The writers in this study were living at the edge of change, in a world severely rocked by world conflict - a 'maelstrom' of upheaval of values, of community standards, and of philosophical visions. Their task was to "give [themselves and others] the power to change the world that is changing them, to make their way through the maelstrom and make it their own." Their response was not to embrace the chaos, but to move through it and re-establish limits in the broader beyond.

PREFACE, INTRODUCTION, 1 VIRGINIA WOOLF, CHAPTER ONE Mrs. Dalloway and the Metaphysical Quarrel with Bertrand Russell, CHAPTER TWO Gothic Conventions, Abjection, and Melancholy, 2 HILDA DOOLITTLE, CHAPTER THREE Moravian and Gnostic Belief Systems in Helen in Egypt, CHAPTER FOUR H.D. and The Redemption of Sophia, 3 D.H. LAWRENCE, CHAPTER FIVE Layers of Alchemy in The Rainbow. CHAPTER SIX Cabala in The Plumed Serpent, CONCLUSION, NOTES