Michael Wachtel explores here the art and development of Vyacheslav Ivanov (1866-1949), a poet and theorist who articulated a highly influential concept of Symbolism. The German writers Goethe and Novalis played a powerful part in Ivanov's vision and were, in his mind, powerful precursors in a proto-Symbolist pantheon. Their work not only influenced his writing but also, in maintaining the Symbolist creed of unity in art and life, altered his world perspective.

Wachtel, in exploring Ivanov's relationship to Goethe and Novalis, illuminates the issues that lie at the core of Symbolism: the theory of the symbol, poetics, poetry as theurgy, the relationship between literary creation and "real life," and the theory and practice of translation.