This study is the first to explicitly identify the mystic traditions informing the literary and theoretical writings of Hermann Broch (1886-1951) and in so doing reveal a transformed concept of mysticism to be the very hub of Broch's entire thinking. His specific brand of mysticism is related here to a form of secularised mysticism called "leere Transzendenz" (empty transcendentalism) that sprang up in early 20th century European thinking as a response to a widespread feeling of loss of meaning and totality.