How do we write about magic? Responding to a renewed interest in the history of the occult, this volume examines the role of magic in a series of methodological controversies in the humanities. In case studies ranging from the 'necromancy' of historiography to the strident rationalism of the 'New Atheism,' Magical Thinking sets out the surprising ways in which scholars and critics have imagined the occult. The volume argues that thinking and writing about magic has engendered multiple epistemological crises, profoundly unsettling the understanding of history and knowledge in Western culture. By examining how scholarly writing has contended and conspired with discourses of enchantment, the book reveals the implications of magic - and its scholarship - for intellectual history.

Stuart McWilliams is Senior Lecturer in English at the University of Oslo, Norway. His research interests include English literary and intellectual history, medievalism and the theory of history.

Introduction / 1. A Bastard Sister: Magic as an Object of Study in the Twentieth Century / 2. The Hidden Name: Periodization and the Politics of Definition / 3. Divination and History: The Necromantic Imagination / 4. Representations I: Demonological Aesthetics / 5. Representations II: Angelic Mediations / 6. Where is the Ritual in 'Ritual Magic'? / 7. The Practice of Syncretism: Religious Hybridization in Late Antique and Medieval Ritual Magic / 8. The Experimental Act / 9. Does Magic Work? / Conclusion / Bibliography / Index.