The Magical Imagination

Magic and Modernity in Urban England, 1780–1914

Nonfiction, History, British, Modern
Cover of the book The Magical Imagination by Karl Bell, Cambridge University Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Karl Bell ISBN: 9781139234283
Publisher: Cambridge University Press Publication: February 23, 2012
Imprint: Cambridge University Press Language: English
Author: Karl Bell
ISBN: 9781139234283
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Publication: February 23, 2012
Imprint: Cambridge University Press
Language: English

This innovative history of popular magical mentalities in nineteenth-century England explores the dynamic ways in which the magical imagination helped people to adjust to urban life. Previous studies of modern popular magical practices and supernatural beliefs have largely neglected the urban experience. Karl Bell, however, shows that the magical imagination was a key cultural resource which granted an empowering sense of plebeian agency in the nineteenth-century urban environment. Rather than portraying magical beliefs and practices as a mere enclave of anachronistic 'tradition' and the fantastical as simply an escapist refuge from the real, he reveals magic's adaptive and transformative qualities and the ways in which it helped ordinary people navigate, adapt to and resist aspects of modern urbanization. Drawing on perspectives from cultural anthropology, sociology, folklore and urban studies, this is a major contribution to our understanding of modern popular magic and the lived experience of modernization and urbanization.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

This innovative history of popular magical mentalities in nineteenth-century England explores the dynamic ways in which the magical imagination helped people to adjust to urban life. Previous studies of modern popular magical practices and supernatural beliefs have largely neglected the urban experience. Karl Bell, however, shows that the magical imagination was a key cultural resource which granted an empowering sense of plebeian agency in the nineteenth-century urban environment. Rather than portraying magical beliefs and practices as a mere enclave of anachronistic 'tradition' and the fantastical as simply an escapist refuge from the real, he reveals magic's adaptive and transformative qualities and the ways in which it helped ordinary people navigate, adapt to and resist aspects of modern urbanization. Drawing on perspectives from cultural anthropology, sociology, folklore and urban studies, this is a major contribution to our understanding of modern popular magic and the lived experience of modernization and urbanization.

More books from Cambridge University Press

Cover of the book The Europeanization of Workplace Pensions by Karl Bell
Cover of the book Shakespeare and the Visual Imagination by Karl Bell
Cover of the book Living Death in Medieval French and English Literature by Karl Bell
Cover of the book Politics and Skepticism in Antebellum American Literature by Karl Bell
Cover of the book Clinical Trials in Neurology by Karl Bell
Cover of the book Repeated Games by Karl Bell
Cover of the book The Making of Strategy by Karl Bell
Cover of the book Law and Legal Practice in Egypt from Alexander to the Arab Conquest by Karl Bell
Cover of the book Probability and Computing by Karl Bell
Cover of the book Structural Dynamics and Economic Growth by Karl Bell
Cover of the book The Ethos of Europe by Karl Bell
Cover of the book Structural Information Theory by Karl Bell
Cover of the book Understanding Education and Educational Research by Karl Bell
Cover of the book The Intellectual Foundations of Chinese Modernity by Karl Bell
Cover of the book Trinity College Library Dublin by Karl Bell
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy