Representing Magic in Modern Ireland

Belief, History, and Culture

Andrew Sneddon author

Format:Paperback

Publisher:Cambridge University Press

Published:19th May '22

Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back

Representing Magic in Modern Ireland cover

Explores beliefs in magic and witchcraft in modern Ireland (1800–2000) and representation in literature, historical writing and the press.

This Element argues that Ireland did not experience a disenchanted modernity, nor a decline in magic. It suggests that beliefs, practices and traditions concerning witchcraft and magic developed and adapted to modernity to retain cultural currency until the end of the twentieth century.This Element argues that Ireland did not experience a disenchanted modernity, nor a decline in magic. It suggests that beliefs, practices and traditions concerning witchcraft and magic developed and adapted to modernity to retain cultural currency until the end of the twentieth century. This analysis provides the backdrop for the first systematic exploration of how historic Irish trials of witches and cunning-folk were represented by historians, antiquarians, journalists, dramatists, poets, and novelists in Ireland between the late eighteenth and late twentieth century. It is demonstrated that this work created an accepted narrative of Irish witchcraft and magic which glossed over, ignored, or obscured the depth of belief in witchcraft, both in the past and in contemporary society. Collectively, their work gendered Irish witchcraft, created a myth of a disenchanted, modern Ireland, and reinforced competing views of Irishness and Irish identity. These long-held stereotypes were only challenged in the late twentieth-century.

ISBN: 9781108949279

Dimensions: 229mm x 152mm x 6mm

Weight: 150g

75 pages