LEADER 04383nam 22006854a 450 001 9910455600003321 005 20200520144314.0 010 $a1-282-53780-6 010 $a9786612537806 010 $a0-226-64203-8 024 7 $a10.7208/9780226642031 035 $a(CKB)2520000000006481 035 $a(EBL)485980 035 $a(OCoLC)593274241 035 $a(SSID)ssj0000777746 035 $a(PQKBManifestationID)12302997 035 $a(PQKBTitleCode)TC0000777746 035 $a(PQKBWorkID)10757048 035 $a(PQKB)10014490 035 $a(SSID)ssj0000341488 035 $a(PQKBManifestationID)11267242 035 $a(PQKBTitleCode)TC0000341488 035 $a(PQKBWorkID)10394672 035 $a(PQKB)10736771 035 $a(StDuBDS)EDZ0000122020 035 $a(MiAaPQ)EBC485980 035 $a(DE-B1597)524015 035 $a(OCoLC)1135579087 035 $a(DE-B1597)9780226642031 035 $a(Au-PeEL)EBL485980 035 $a(CaPaEBR)ebr10366822 035 $a(CaONFJC)MIL253780 035 $a(EXLCZ)992520000000006481 100 $a20030320d2004 uy 0 101 0 $aeng 135 $aur|n|---||||| 181 $ctxt 182 $cc 183 $acr 200 14$aThe place of enchantment$b[electronic resource] $eBritish occultism and the culture of the modern /$fAlex Owen 210 $aChicago, Ill. $cUniversity of Chicago Press$dc2004 215 $a1 online resource (378 p.) 300 $aDescription based upon print version of record. 311 $a0-226-64204-6 311 $a0-226-64201-1 320 $aIncludes bibliographical references (p. [311]-334) and index. 327 $aCulture and the occult at the fin de sie?cle -- Magicians of the new dawn -- Sexual politics -- Modern enchantment and the consciousness of the self -- Occult reality and the fictionalizing mind -- Aleister Crowley in the desert -- After Armageddon -- Occultism and the ambiguities of the modern. 330 $aBy 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 606 $aOccultism$zGreat Britain$xHistory$y19th century 608 $aElectronic books. 615 0$aOccultism$xHistory 676 $a133/.0941/09034 700 $aOwen$b Alex$f1948-$0856714 801 0$bMiAaPQ 801 1$bMiAaPQ 801 2$bMiAaPQ 906 $aBOOK 912 $a9910455600003321 996 $aThe place of enchantment$91913369 997 $aUNINA