Overview

Examining literature and other cultural forms, Victoria Alchemy explores nineteenth-century conceptions of ancient Egypt as this extant civilisation was being 'rediscovered' in the modern world.

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9781787358508

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Reviews

'Encourages us to question the origins of, and motivations behind this fascination: why does the spell that ancient Egypt cast on Victorian society continue to hold us in its grasp.' Fortean Times

'engaging and persuasive' Magic, Ritual, and Witchcraft 'A refreshing and distinctive publication' Victorian Review 'This is one of those expansive books that goes well beyond the usual areas of literary studies by highlighting the importance of ephemera and popular entertainment in period research.' Victorian Popular Fictions 'In Victorian Alchemy: Science, Magic, and Ancient Egypt, Dobson deftly weaves a narrative that is a mix of art, literary, and film criticism with history of science, technology, and magic to argue that the connection of science and magic with ancient Egypt has a long-standing tradition, with its foundation in the Victorian era.' Isis 'Lucidly written and well organized, the book contributes to the scholarship on Victorian science broadly, particularly physics, and also further elucidates the role of Egypt in Western conceptions of modernity and empire.' CHOICE 'Encourages us to question the origins of, and motivations behind this fascination: why does the spell that ancient Egypt cast on Victorian society continue to hold us in its grasp.' Fortean Times

Author Information

Eleanor Dobson is Lecturer in Nineteenth-Century Literature at the University of Birmingham. Her previous works include Ancient Egypt in the Modern Imagination: Art, Literature and Culture (I.B. Tauris, 2020), Victorian Literary Culture and Ancient Egypt (Manchester University Press, 2020) and Writing the Sphinx: Literature, Culture and Egyptology (Edinburgh University Press, 2020).

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