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Magic: A Very Short Introduction
Owen Davies
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Description for Magic: A Very Short Introduction
Paperback. Magic continues to be an enduring topic of fascination, managing to pervade the popular imagination. In this Very Short Introduction Owen Davies explores the definitions and practice of magic over the millennia; highlighting the controversy, conflict, and debate it has caused. Series: Very Short Introductions. Num Pages: 152 pages, 10 black and white halftones. BIC Classification: HRQX2; HRQX5. Category: (G) General (US: Trade). Dimension: 175 x 118 x 9. Weight in Grams: 122.
Defining 'magic' is a maddening task. Over the last century numerous philosophers, anthropologists, historians, and theologians have attempted to pin down its essential meaning, sometimes analysing it in such complex and abstruse depth that it all but loses its sense altogether. For this reason, many people often shy away from providing a detailed definition, assuming it is generally understood as the human control of supernatural forces. 'Magic' continues to pervade the popular imagination and idiom. People feel comfortable with its contemporary multiple meanings, unaware of the controversy, conflict, and debate its definition has caused over two and a ... Read more
Defining 'magic' is a maddening task. Over the last century numerous philosophers, anthropologists, historians, and theologians have attempted to pin down its essential meaning, sometimes analysing it in such complex and abstruse depth that it all but loses its sense altogether. For this reason, many people often shy away from providing a detailed definition, assuming it is generally understood as the human control of supernatural forces. 'Magic' continues to pervade the popular imagination and idiom. People feel comfortable with its contemporary multiple meanings, unaware of the controversy, conflict, and debate its definition has caused over two and a ... Read more
Product Details
Publisher
Oxford University Press United Kingdom
Number of pages
152
Format
Paperback
Publication date
2012
Series
Very Short Introductions
Condition
New
Number of Pages
160
Place of Publication
Oxford, United Kingdom
ISBN
9780199588022
SKU
V9780199588022
Shipping Time
Usually ships in 4 to 8 working days
Ref
99-3
About Owen Davies
Owen Davies is Professor of Social History at the University of Hertfordshire. He has written extensively on the history of magic, witchcraft, and ghosts, including Grimoires: A History of Magic Books (OUP, 2009), The Haunted: A Social History of Ghosts (Palgrave, 2007), and Paganism: A Very Short Introduction (OUP, 2011).
Reviews for Magic: A Very Short Introduction
Davies explores an impressive range of topics including the basic terminology of magic, major theoretical approaches to the subject, the tradition of written magic, its use as a strategy for excluding others and defining ones own group, and the revival of magic in the context of contemporary paganism. ... The book is interspersed with a selection of photographs and illustrations, ... Read more