Overview

Magic, Witchcraft, and Ghosts in the Enlightenment argues for the centrality of magical practices and ideas throughout the long eighteenth century. Although the hunt for witches in Europe declined precipitously after 1650, and the intellectual justification for natural magic came under fire by 1700, belief in magic among the general population did not come to a sudden stop. The philosophes continued to take aim at magical practices, alongside religion, as examples of superstitions that an enlightened age needed to put behind them. In addition to a continuity of beliefs and practices, the eighteenth century also saw improvement and innovation in magical ideas, the understanding of ghosts, and attitudes toward witchcraft. The volume takes a broad geographical approach and includes essays focusing on Great Britain (England and Ireland), France, Germany, and Hungary. It also takes a wide approach to the subject and includes essays on astrology, alchemy, witchcraft, cunning folk, ghosts, treasure hunters, and purveyors of magic. With a broad chronological scope that ranges from the end of the seventeenth century to the early nineteenth century, this volume is useful for undergraduates, postgraduates, scholars, and those with a general interest in magic, witchcraft, and spirits in the Enlightenment.

Full Product Details

Author:   Michael R. Lynn
Publisher:   Taylor & Francis Ltd
Imprint:   Routledge
Weight:   0.553kg
ISBN:  

9780367502775

ISBN 10:   0367502771
Pages:   204
Publication Date:   18 March 2022
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly ,  Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In Print  
This item will be ordered in for you from one of our suppliers. Upon receipt, we will promptly dispatch it out to you. For in store availability, please contact us.

Table of Contents

Introduction: magic, witchcraft, and ghosts in the age of reason 1. The ghost of the Enlightenment: communication with the dead in Southwestern Germany, seventeenth and eighteenth centuries 2. Invisible worlds: magic, spirits, and experience in the early Enlightenment 3. Priests in the storm: an approach on changes in ritual attitudes in eighteenth-century Hungary 4. East Anglian folk magic, folklore, and witchery in the age of reason 5. Jean-Baptiste Alliette and the Ecole de Magie in late-eighteenth century Paris 6. Fortune telling, culture, law, and gender in Ireland, c.1691–1840 7. A scientist at astrology’s funeral: Richard Saunder and the Apollo Anglicanus 8. Natural magic, hermeticism, and skepticism: orientalizing chemical curiosity in eighteenth-century France 9. Afterword

Reviews

'The shadow side of the Enlightenment is illuminated in this fascinating collection of studies on the survival of magical beliefs and practices into the 18th C., from German ghosts, Hungarian exorcisms, and Irish fortune tellers to natural magic, astrology and a proposed Ecole de magie for Paris in the age of Voltaire.' Mary O'Neil, University of Washington, US

'The shadow side of the Enlightenment is illuminated in this fascinating collection of studies on the survival of magical beliefs and practices into the 18th C., from German ghosts, Hungarian exorcisms, and Irish fortune tellers to natural magic, astrology and a proposed Ecole de magie for Paris in the age of Voltaire.' Mary O'Neil, University of Washington, US

Author Information

"Michael R. Lynn is Professor of History at Purdue University Northwest. He has published Popular Science and Public Opinion in Eighteenth-Century France (2006), The Sublime Invention: Ballooning in Europe, 1783–1820 (2010), and ""The Curious Science: Chiromancy in Early Modern France"" (2018). He is currently working on a monograph analyzing the culture and practice of divination in Enlightenment France."

Tab Content 6

Author Website:  

Customer Reviews

Recent Reviews

No review item found!

Add your own review!

Countries Available

All regions