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The Place of Enchantment: British Occultism and the Culture of the Modern by Alex Owen (Paperback, 2007)

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By the end of the nineteenth century, Victorians were seeking 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 the role of occultism in British culture prior to World War I. Rescuing occultism from its status as an irrational indulgence and situating it at the center of British intellectual life, Owen argues that an involvement with the occult was a leitmotif of the intellectual avant-garde. Carefully placing a serious engagement with esotericism squarely alongside revolutionary understandings of rationality and consciousness, Owen demonstrates how a newly psychologized magic operated in conjunction with the developing patterns of modern life. 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 moves far beyond a consideration of occultists and their world. Bearing directly on our understanding of modernity, her conclusions will force us to rethink the place of the irrational in modern culture. ?An intelligent, well-argued and richly detailed work of cultural history that offers a substantial contribution to our understanding of Britain.??Nick Freeman, Washington Times

Product Identifiers

Publisher
The University of Chicago Press
ISBN-13
9780226642048
eBay Product ID (ePID)
95974866

Product Key Features

Book Title
The Place of Enchantment: British Occultism and the Culture of the Modern
Author
Alex Owen
Format
Paperback
Language
English
Topic
Alternative Belief Systems
Publication Year
2007
Number of Pages
384 Pages

Dimensions

Item Height
229mm
Item Width
163mm
Item Weight
596g

Additional Product Features

Title_Author
Alex Owen
Country/Region of Manufacture
United States

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The Place of Enchantment: British Occultism and the Culture of the Modern by Alex Owen (Paperback, 2007)

About this product

Product Information

Product Identifiers

Product Key Features

Dimensions

Additional Product Features

Best Selling in Books

Atomic Habits: the life-changing million-copy #1 bestseller by James Clear (Paperback, 2018)

First Day by Andrew Daddo (Paperback, 2014)

Save on Books

Frank Herbert'S Dune Saga 3-Book Boxed Set: Dune, Dune Messiah, and Children of

A Gentleman in Moscow: The worldwide bestseller by Amor Towles (Paperback, 2017)

Fck Off! This is MY Coloring Book: The Very Fcking Best of John T | Swear word

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