Magic in Early Modern England - Literature, Politics, and Supernatural Power

This book places early modern philosophy and political theory into conversation with sixteenth- and seventeenth-century writing on magic: plays, spell books, treatises, and witch trial narratives. Reading works by Hobbes and Bacon alongside writing by necromancers and witch-hunters reveals a broad cultural obsession with supernatural power.

List of contents

Chapter 1: The Ubiquity of Magic in Early Modern England
Chapter 2: Towards a Definition of Early Modern Magic: Four Conceptual Problems
Chapter 3: Magic and Materialism: Niccolò Machiavelli, Francis Bacon, and Abraham Cowley
Chapter 4: Magical Overreach in Robert Greene and Simon Forman
Chapter 5: Illusions of Power in Doctor Faustus and Francis Bacon
Chapter 6: Witch Trials and Thomas Hobbes
Chapter 7: Margaret Cavendish and the Conquest of the Blazing World
Conclusion

About the author

By Andrew Moore

Summary

This book places early modern philosophy and political theory into conversation with sixteenth- and seventeenth-century writing on magic: plays, spell books, treatises, and witch trial narratives. Reading works by Hobbes and Bacon alongside writing by necromancers and witch-hunters reveals a broad cultural obsession with supernatural power.

Product details

• Authors: Andrew Moore, Moore Andrew
• Publisher: Lexington Books
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 15.05.2023
• EAN: 9781498575515
• ISBN: 978-1-4985-7551-5
• No. of pages: 188
• Series: Politics, Literature, & Film
• Subjects: Social sciences, law, business > Political science > Political science and political education; Europe, POLITICAL SCIENCE / Political Process / General, POLITICAL SCIENCE / History & Theory, LITERARY CRITICISM / European / General, POLITICAL SCIENCE / World / European, Political science & theory, Political structure & processes, Literary studies: general, Political science and theory, Political structure and processes