The Reform of Time: Magic and ModernityThe decline of magic is generally discussed in the context of the rise of scientific knowledge and the spread of education. In this original critique, Maureen Perkins challenges such interpretations and argues that the nineteenth-century marginalisation of ‘superstition’ is part of a social history of time management. Perkins summarises the development of a sense of British temporal superiority and tackles enduring questions of colonialisation and class from the unusual angle of beliefs about time. She relates differing concepts of time to colonial discourse, particularly in relation to gypsies and Australian Aborigines, and to the development of national identity in calendar illustrations. She surveys technological developments in the calculation of time, and assesses the role of popular beliefs in astrology, books of fate, and prophetic dreaming. This fascinating study reveals how the increasing importance of accurate measurement of time in the modern world led to campaigns against the fatalism and apathy which popular practices, such as fortune-telling, supposedly encouraged. |
Contents
Clocks Calendars and Centralisation | 19 |
FortuneTelling | 40 |
The Interpretation of Dreams | 59 |
Copyright | |
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Common terms and phrases
1st pub Aboriginal advertising almanac amongst astrologer Australia Book of Fate Britain British calendar Calendar Reform chapbook chapter child born cited claimed classes clock colonial David Vincent débutante diary disapproval dream books dreamers Dreamtime eighteenth English European example expressed female Figure Fortune Teller fortune-telling Freud future gender girls Greenwich gypsy Henry Mayhew History Ibid idea of progress illustrations important interpretation of dreams Joseph Powell knowledge Letts linked literature London Longitude magic Manchester middle-class nineteenth century Norwood Oxford University Press particular past perhaps political popular belief Popular Culture practice prediction present prime meridian prophecies prosecution published Punch readers reference reform Religion representation role Ronald Hutton Samuel Bamford sense sexuality social Society story suggested superstition Suppression of Vice symbol telling temporal term thought timeless travelling True Fortune Teller Vagrancy Victorian Walter Crane Western Western Australia witchcraft woman writes York young women
References to this book
Making Magic: Religion, Magic, and Science in the Modern World Randall Styers No preview available - 2004 |