Status
Available
Call number
Collection
Publication
London : Routledge and K. Paul (1972), Edition: 1st Translated Edition, Hardcover
Description
First written by Marcel Mauss and Henri Humbert in 1902, A General Theory of Magic gained a wide new readership when republished by Mauss in 1950. As a study of magic in 'primitive' societies and its survival today in our thoughts and social actions, it represents what Claude L¿-Strauss called, in an introduction to that edition, the astonishing modernity of the mind of one of the century's greatest thinkers. The book offers a fascinating snapshot of magic throughout various cultures as well as deep sociological and religious insights still very much relevant today. At a period when art, magic and science appear to be crossing paths once again, A General Theory of Magic presents itself as a classic for our times.
User reviews
LibraryThing member dono421846
A more thorough justification for a conclusion earlier found in Durkheim's work, albeit in a comment only, that magic -- far from being the private and idiosyncratic practice it is often considered to be, in contrast to the communal and public religion -- magic is necessarily a social institution.
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Without the community of belief generating the context, magical rituals would be only irrational and absurd; but within that background they are powerful and meaningful. Show Less