Synopses & Reviews
Magic is usually defined as a non-modern phenomenon, contrasted with modern rationalism and science. However, the idea of magic has remained persistent in scholarly discourse throughout history from the Middle Ages to the Enlightenment and beyond. This volume explores how the notion of magic is articulated and theorised in the writing of history. Departing from writing "about" magic in history, this volume addresses magic as it relates to the trajectories of intellectual history as a whole, with particular reference to a diverse series of case studies in thought about magic. The author also engages with the history and philosophy of science; operating within this framework, the author argues that magic has always been figured as "medieval" in the formulation of the discourses of modernity, and that thinking or writing about magic has engendered multiple epistemological crises. Through these controversies, the idea of magic and the occult has profoundly unsettled the understanding of history in Western culture. The resulting study is an investigation of the implications of magic (and the study of magic) for intellectual history. >
Synopsis
How do we write about magic?
Responding to a renewed interest in the history of the occult, this volume examines the role of magic in a series of methodological controversies in the humanities. In case studies ranging from the 'necromancy' of historiography to the strident rationalism of the 'New Atheism, ' Magical Thinking sets out the surprising ways in which scholars and critics have imagined the occult. The volume argues that thinking and writing about magic has engendered multiple epistemological crises, profoundly unsettling the understanding of history and knowledge in Western culture. By examining how scholarly writing has contended and conspired with discourses of enchantment, the book reveals the implications of magic - and its scholarship - for intellectual history.
Table of Contents
Introduction / 1. A Bastard Sister: Magic as an Object of Study in the Twentieth Century / 2. The Hidden Name: Periodization and the Politics of Definition / 3. Divination and History: The Necromantic Imagination / 4. Representations I: Demonological Aesthetics / 5. Representations II: Angelic Mediations / 6. Where is the Ritual in 'Ritual Magic'? / 7. The Practice of Syncretism: Religious Hybridization in Late Antique and Medieval Ritual Magic / 8. The Experimental Act / 9. Does Magic Work? / Conclusion / Bibliography / Index.