The Art of Mystery: The Search for Questions

Author Casey's (The Man Who Walked Away) contribution to the "Art of" series explores the idea of mystery in fiction, its long-standing bond with Sigmund Freud's notion of the uncanny, and endurance outside the confines of genre. Referencing filmmaker Werner Herzog's 2010 documentray Cave of Forgotten Dreams, the author reminds us that no mystery is deeper than humankind's existence: Who are we? What is the soul? What is art? No matter the tools of technological progress, we persist in picking through yesterday's layers in search of answers. But perhaps more important is the value of retaining some sense of mystery. After the slow fade of Spiritualism and its employment of new photographic techniques to create ghostly images, the clang and thunder of the industrial engine relocated the source of so-called supernatural phenomena from "outside" to the vulnerable realm of imagination and desire. Chief among the new literary exponents was Henry James, whose The Turn of the Screw (1898) revitalized gothic tropes. He was followed by Shirley Jackson, Paul Yoon, J.M. Coetzee, and other writers more interested in finding questions than snuffing mystery's essential relief from life's harsh realities.