Narratives of Sorcery and Magic - Wright, Thomas

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Résumé :
Thomas Wright's interest in folklore and legend led to this two-volume 1851 account of sorcery and magic across Europe.

Biographie:
I am a professed lover of America's National Park System. I have visited all 418 park units, as of 2018. No matter how large or small a park unit, 20 miles down the road or 5,000 miles across the Pacific Ocean (i.e. Guam), in solitude or with thousands of other visitors, I have enjoyed trekking to all of them. First-hand experience with each park is second to none. Over 250 units have welcomed me for multiple visits. Membership in the National Park Travelers Club was easily predictable. There is nothing like mingling with folks who have a similar interest. The sport of Baseball is close behind on my list of hobbies. I have played, coached, watched, and followed America's Pastime since I was five years old. Meeting and talking with the greats of the game (Mantle, DiMaggio, Williams, Snyder, etc.) over the last three decades, listening to their stories, watching each season's World Series, and enjoying my baseball card collection continue to fuel my enthusiasm. My maternal grandparents attended the first All-Star Game in Chicago, in 1933. How is that for lineage?

Sommaire:
The English historian and antiquary Thomas Wright (1810-70) co-founded and joined a number of antiquarian and literary societies. He was greatly interested in Old English, Middle English and Anglo-Norman texts, and in the 1840s and 1850s he published widely within these areas. Gradually his focus shifted to the archaeology of Roman Britain and to Anglo-Saxon cemeteries. Although much of Wright's research has been completely superseded, his work is still considered worth consulting, as he collected material not readily available elsewhere. This two-volume 1851 publication is testimony to Wright's interest in folklore, sorcery and legend. In Volume 1 the author accounts of sorcery across Europe, and he considers the legendary Dr Faustus as an archetypal magician who called 'the demon'. Wright also discusses the place of the occult in England during and after the Reformation, writing about magicians such as John Dee, and describing King James I's views on witchcraft....