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The end of magic / Ariel Glucklich.
LIBRA BF1622.I5 G58 1997
Available from offsite location
- Format:
- Book
- Author/Creator:
- Glucklich, Ariel.
- Language:
- English
- Subjects (All):
- Magic--India.
- Magic.
- Superstition--India.
- Superstition.
- India.
- Physical Description:
- viii, 253 pages ; 21 cm
- Place of Publication:
- New York : Oxford University Press, 1997.
- Summary:
- Throughout history, magic has been as widely and passionately practiced as religion. But while religion continues to flourish, magic stumbles towards extinction. What is magic? What does it do? Why do people believe in magic? Ariel Glucklich finds the answers to these questions in the streets of Banaras, India's most sacred city, where hundreds of magicians still practice ancient traditions, treating thousands of Hindu and Muslim patients of every caste and sect. Through study and interpretation of the Banarsi magical rites and those who partake in them, the author presents fascinating living examples of magical practice, and contrasts his findings with the major theories that have explained (or explained away) magic over the last century. These theories, he argues, ignore an essential sensory phenomenon which he calls "magical experience": an extraordinary, though perfectly natural, state of awareness through which magicians and their clients perceive the effects of magic rituals.
- Contents:
- Introduction: What Is Magic? 3
- Part 1 Theories of Magic
- 1. Magic Explained Away 17
- 2. The Strange Case of Alfred Wallace 24
- 3. The Association of Ideas: Bringing People Together 32
- 4. From Magic to Social Function 39
- 5. Psychological and Symbolical Theories of Magic 49
- 6. New Science, Old Magic 65
- Part 2 The Nature of Magic
- 7. Concentric Rings of Healing 83
- 8. The Magical Experience 97
- 9. Philosophical Issues 118
- 10. Systems, Mind, and Magic 130
- Part 3 Magic In Banaras
- 11. The Insider's View 141
- 12. Miraculous Powers and False Advertising 154
- 13. Ghosts and People with No Boundaries 171
- 14. Animal Magic 184
- 15. The Tools of Magic 203
- 16. The End of Magic 221.
- Notes:
- Includes bibliographical references and index.
- ISBN:
- 0195108795
- 0195108809
- OCLC:
- 34798021
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