Modernism and Magic: Experiments with Spiritualism, Theosophy and the Occult
While modernism's engagement with the occult has been approached by critics as the result of a loss of faith in representation, an attempt to draw on science as the primary discourse of modernity, or as a hidden history of ideas, Leigh Wilson argues that these discourses have at their heart a magical practice which remakes the relationship between world and representation. As Wilson demonstrates, the courses of the occult are based on a magical mimesis which transforms the nature of the copy, from inert to vital, from dead to alive, from static to animated, from powerless to powerful.

Wilson explores the aesthetic and political implications of this relationship in the work of those writers, artists and filmmakers who were most self-consciously experimental, including James Joyce, Ezra Pound, Dziga Vertov and Sergei M. Eisenstein.
1113895890
Modernism and Magic: Experiments with Spiritualism, Theosophy and the Occult
While modernism's engagement with the occult has been approached by critics as the result of a loss of faith in representation, an attempt to draw on science as the primary discourse of modernity, or as a hidden history of ideas, Leigh Wilson argues that these discourses have at their heart a magical practice which remakes the relationship between world and representation. As Wilson demonstrates, the courses of the occult are based on a magical mimesis which transforms the nature of the copy, from inert to vital, from dead to alive, from static to animated, from powerless to powerful.

Wilson explores the aesthetic and political implications of this relationship in the work of those writers, artists and filmmakers who were most self-consciously experimental, including James Joyce, Ezra Pound, Dziga Vertov and Sergei M. Eisenstein.
39.95 In Stock
Modernism and Magic: Experiments with Spiritualism, Theosophy and the Occult

Modernism and Magic: Experiments with Spiritualism, Theosophy and the Occult

by Leigh Wilson
Modernism and Magic: Experiments with Spiritualism, Theosophy and the Occult

Modernism and Magic: Experiments with Spiritualism, Theosophy and the Occult

by Leigh Wilson

Paperback

$39.95 
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Overview

While modernism's engagement with the occult has been approached by critics as the result of a loss of faith in representation, an attempt to draw on science as the primary discourse of modernity, or as a hidden history of ideas, Leigh Wilson argues that these discourses have at their heart a magical practice which remakes the relationship between world and representation. As Wilson demonstrates, the courses of the occult are based on a magical mimesis which transforms the nature of the copy, from inert to vital, from dead to alive, from static to animated, from powerless to powerful.

Wilson explores the aesthetic and political implications of this relationship in the work of those writers, artists and filmmakers who were most self-consciously experimental, including James Joyce, Ezra Pound, Dziga Vertov and Sergei M. Eisenstein.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780748627707
Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
Publication date: 10/01/2015
Series: Edinburgh Critical Studies in Modernist Culture
Pages: 224
Product dimensions: 6.10(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

Leigh Wilson is Principal Lecturer in English Literature at the University of Westminster. She publishes on modernism and contemporary British fiction.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements;
Introduction;
Chapter 1:'But the facts of life persist': Magic, Experiment and the Problem of Representing the World Otherwise;
Chapter 2: 'And what has all this to do with experimental writing': Words and Ghosts;
Chapter 3: A 'subtle metamorphosis': Sound, Mimesis and Transformation;
Chapter 4: 'Here is where the magic is': Telepathy and Experiment in Film;
Chapter 5: 'Disney against the metaphysicals': Eisenstein, Pound, Ectoplasm and the Politics of Animation;
Bibliography;
Index

What People are Saying About This

"In this provocative and engaging book, Leigh Wilson finds magic at the heart of modernism. Looking afresh at its fascination with the occult, she suggests that modernist writers and filmmakers drew on magical thinking in their experimental art to create works that radically transformed the world they knew."

Professor Helen Carr, Goldsmiths, University of London

"This is a major contribution not only to our understanding of modernism's fascination with the supernatural, but of modernism’s fundamental investment in modern magic. It breaks new ground by considering magic’s importance for filmmakers and artists, novelists and poets. It is the most important book on the topic in over a decade."

Dr Stephen Ross, University of Victoria

Dr Stephen Ross

"In this provocative and engaging book, Leigh Wilson finds magic at the heart of modernism. Looking afresh at its fascination with the occult, she suggests that modernist writers and filmmakers drew on magical thinking in their experimental art to create works that radically transformed the world they knew."

Professor Helen Carr, Goldsmiths, University of London

"This is a major contribution not only to our understanding of modernism's fascination with the supernatural, but of modernism’s fundamental investment in modern magic. It breaks new ground by considering magic’s importance for filmmakers and artists, novelists and poets. It is the most important book on the topic in over a decade."

Dr Stephen Ross, University of Victoria

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