The cabala
First sentence
The Cabala.-By Cabala we understand that system of religious philosophy, or more properly, of Jewish theosophy, which played so important a part in the theological and exegetical literature of both Jews and Christians ever since the Middle Ages...
Description
In Wilder's first novel, The Cabala (1926), Samuele, an American student, spends a year in the fabulously decadent world of post-World War I Rome. He experiences first-hand the waning days of a secret community--a "cabala" composed of decaying European royalty, eccentric expatriate Americans, even a great cardinal of the Roman Church. The vivid portraits he paints of these characters, whom he views as the vestigial representatives of the gods and goddesses of Ancient Rome, launched Thornton Wilder's career as a celebrated storyteller and literary stylist. --ww.thorntonwilder.com.