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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.
"While there is not clear theme that binds such a divers range of essays together, the book's diversity is in fact one of its pleasures. It will lead students and scholars into areas they might not be familiar with or in which they previously had not interest." · MLR
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