The Place of Enchantment: British Occultism and the Culture of the Modern
by Alex Owen
- New
- Condition
- New
- ISBN 10
- 0226642011
- ISBN 13
- 9780226642017
- Seller
-
Southport, Merseyside, United Kingdom
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
New. Exploratory sex magic. Experimentation with mind-altering drugs. Astral travel. Alchemy. Alex Owen's new book, The Place of Enchantment, situates these seemingly anachronistic practices squarely alongside revolutionary understandings of rationality in a compelling demonstration of how a newly psychologized magic operated in conjunction with the developing patterns of modern life. By the end of the nineteenth century, Victorians sought rational explanations for the world in which they lived. The radical ideas of Charles Darwin had shaken traditional religious beliefs. Sigmund Freud was developing his innovative models of the conscious and unconscious mind. And anthropologist James George Frazer was subjecting magic, myth, and ritual to systematic inquiry. Why, then, in this quintessentially modern moment, did late-Victorian and Edwardian men and women become absorbed by metaphysical quests, heterodox spiritual encounters, and occult experimentation? In answering this question for the first time, The Place of Enchantment breaks new ground in its consideration of occultism in British culture prior to World War I. Rescuing occultism from its status as an "irrational indulgence" and placing it at the center of British intellectual life, Owen argues that an involvement with the occult was a leitmotif of an intellectual avant-garde. She details such fascinating examples of occult practice as the sex magic of Aleister Crowley, the pharmacological experimentation of W. B. Yeats, and complex forms of astral clairvoyance as taught in secret and hierarchical magical societies like the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. Through a remarkable blend of theoretical discussion and intellectual history, Owen has produced a work that is far more than a social history of occultism. Her conclusions bear directly on understandings of modernity and force us to rethink the place of the irrational in modern culture.
Reviews
(Log in or Create an Account first!)
Details
- Bookseller
- The Saint Bookstore (GB)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- A9780226642017
- Title
- The Place of Enchantment: British Occultism and the Culture of the Modern
- Author
- Alex Owen
- Book Condition
- New
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Binding
- Hardcover
- ISBN 10
- 0226642011
- ISBN 13
- 9780226642017
- Publisher
- University Of Chicago Press
- Place of Publication
- Chicago, Illinois, U.s.a.
- This edition first published
- April 14, 2004
Terms of Sale
The Saint Bookstore
Refunds or Returns: A full refund of the price paid will be given if returned within 30 days in undamaged condition. If the product is faulty, we may send a replacement.
About the Seller
The Saint Bookstore
Biblio member since 2018
Southport, Merseyside
About The Saint Bookstore
The Saint Bookstore specialises in hard to find titles & also offers delivery worldwide for reasonable rates.
Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- Shaken
- A hardcover in which the text block is loose, but still attached to the binding.