The Meanings of Magic

From the Bible to Buffalo Bill
1. Auflage 2006
ISBN: 978-1-84545-178-3
Verlag: Berghahn Books

Buch, Englisch, Band 11, 252 Seiten, Format (B × H): 140 mm x 216 mm, Gewicht: 440 g

Reihe: Polygons: Cultural Diversities and Intersections

The notion of "magic" is a current popular culture phenomenon. Harry Potter, the Lord of the Rings, the commercial glamour of the footballer and the pop idol surround us with their charisma, enchantment, and charm. But magic also exerts a terrifying political hold upon us: bin Laden's alleged March 28 e-mail message spoke of the attacks on America in form of "crushing its towers, disgracing its arrogance, undoing its magic." The nine scholars included in this volume consider the cultural power of magic, from early Christianity and the ancient Mediterranean to the curious film career of Buffalo Bill, focusing on topics such as Surrealism, France in the classical age, alchemy, and American fundamentalism, ranging from popular to elite magic, from theory to practice, from demonology to exoticism, from the magic of memory to the magic of the stage. As these essays show, magic defines the limit of both science and religion but as such remains indefinable.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Wygant, Amy

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Religionswissenschaft Religionswissenschaft Allgemein
• Interdisziplinäres Wissenschaften Wissenschaften Interdisziplinär Wirtschafts- und Sozialwissenschaften

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Acknowledgements

List of Illustrations

Introduction: Magic, Glamour, Curses

Amy Wygant

PART I: MAGIC AND GOD

Chapter 1. Magic and the Millennium

David S. Katz

Chapter 2. Showman or Shaman? The Acts of a Biblical Prophet

Mark Brummitt

Chapter 3. Curse Tablets and Binding Spells in the Greco-Roman World

John G. Gager

Chapter 4. Magic, Healing and Early Christianity: Consumption and Competition

Justin Meggitt

PART II: MAGIC, CULTURE, SCIENCE

Chapter 5. All the Devils: Port-Royal and Pedagogy in Seventeenth-Century France

Nicholas Hammond

Chapter 6. The Magic of French Culture: Transforming "Savages" into French Catholics in Seventeenth-Century France

Sara E. Melzer

Chapter 7. A Magus of the North? Professor John Ferguson and his Library

David Weston

Chapter 8. The Golden Fleece and Harry Potter

Amy Wygant

Chapter 9. Cowboys and Magicians: Buffalo Bill, Houdini and Real Magic

Ronald G. Walters

Chapter 10. The Search for a New Dimension: Surrealism and Magic

Alyce Mahon

Notes on Contributors

Index

Über Autor(innen)

Wygant, Amy
Amy Wygant (1953-2012) lectured in early modern literature and culture at the University of Glasgow. She was a co-founder of Women in French in Scotland (WIFIS), and editor of Seventeenth-Century French Studies. Her publications include Towards a Cultural Philology: Phædre and the Construction of "Racine" (Oxford: European Humanities Research Centre, 1999) and Medea, Magic, and Modernity, and she is editing a special edition of the Forum for Modern Language Studies (2007). She also authored numerous articles on witchcraft and demonology, tragedy, opera, and psychoanalysis.