Overview

This book reconsiders the place of magic at the foundations of modernity. Through careful close reading of plays, spell books, philosophical treatises, and witch trial narratives, Andrew Moore shows us that magic was ubiquitous in early modern England. Rather than a “decline of magic,” this study traces a broad cultural fascination with supernatural power. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, poets, philosophers, jurists, and monarchs debated the reality and the morality of magic, and, by extension, the limits of human power. In this way, early modern English writing about magic was closely related to the scientific and political philosophical writing from the period, which was likewise reimagining humanity’s relationship to nature. Moore reads Thomas Hobbes’s Leviathan alongside contemporary writing by the notorious witch hunters Matthew Hopkins and John Stearne. He reminds us that Francis Bacon’s scientific works were addressed to King James I, whose own Dæmonologie insists on the reality of witchcraft. The fantastical science fiction of Margaret Cavendish, he argues, must be understood within a tradition that includes works like Christopher Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus and the peculiar autobiography of criminal astrologer Simon Forman. By considering these disparate works together Moore reveals the centrality of magic to the early modern project.

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9781498575515

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Reviews

"""Andrew Moore has written a compelling and thought-provoking work that contests the prevalent view of a ""decline of magic"" brought about through the rise of the modern world with its science and technology. Moore, through detailed and innovative analysis of Early Modern English literature, philosophy, and texts of magical practice, presents the modern world as both crucially shaped by and realized through magic. This argument opens a far more nuanced approach to the interplay between an emerging modernity and the seemingly dark arts of magic and witchcraft.""--Neil Robertson, Professor of Humanities Modern science and technology are routinely understood as sharp departures from, and as correctives to, a pre-modern fascination with magic. Andrew Moore revises this understanding. Drawing largely on early modern English sources, Moore shows us that men in both worlds have been driven by a common impulse to attain supernatural power over their lives, to account for and relieve distress. This book adds significantly to our knowledge of early-modern thought and social views, and it brings the reader into closer contact with a past world that, with respect to the issue of science and magic, is not past.--Luigi Bradizza, Salve Regina University"

Andrew Moore has written a compelling and thought-provoking work that contests the prevalent view of a decline of magic brought about through the rise of the modern world with its science and technology. Moore, through detailed and innovative analysis of Early Modern English literature, philosophy, and texts of magical practice, presents the modern world as both crucially shaped by and realized through magic. This argument opens a far more nuanced approach to the interplay between an emerging modernity and the seemingly dark arts of magic and witchcraft. Neil Robertson, Professor of Humanities--Neil Robertson Modern science and technology are routinely understood as sharp departures from, and as correctives to, a pre-modern fascination with magic. Andrew Moore revises this understanding. Drawing largely on early modern English sources, Moore shows us that men in both worlds have been driven by a common impulse to attain supernatural power over their lives, to account for and relieve distress. This book adds significantly to our knowledge of early-modern thought and social views, and it brings the reader into closer contact with a past world that, with respect to the issue of science and magic, is not past. Luigi Bradizza, Salve Regina University--Luigi Bradizza, Salve Regina University

"""Andrew Moore has written a compelling and thought-provoking work that contests the prevalent view of a ""decline of magic"" brought about through the rise of the modern world with its science and technology. Moore, through detailed and innovative analysis of Early Modern English literature, philosophy, and texts of magical practice, presents the modern world as both crucially shaped by and realized through magic. This argument opens a far more nuanced approach to the interplay between an emerging modernity and the seemingly dark arts of magic and witchcraft."" Modern science and technology are routinely understood as sharp departures from, and as correctives to, a pre-modern fascination with magic. Andrew Moore revises this understanding. Drawing largely on early modern English sources, Moore shows us that men in both worlds have been driven by a common impulse to attain supernatural power over their lives, to account for and relieve distress. This book adds significantly to our knowledge of early-modern thought and social views, and it brings the reader into closer contact with a past world that, with respect to the issue of science and magic, is not past."

Author Information

Andrew Moore is associate professor at St. Thomas University in Canada. Lee Trepanier is professor at Samford University.

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