Wörsdörfer:Magic theatre in the 17th century

This volume sheds light on the previously overlooked connections between historical manifestations of magic and their main forms of presentation in theater from 1600 to 1685. Based on the early modern triad of magia daemoniaca, magia naturalis, and magia artificialis, and employing anthropological and theater aesthetic approaches, the analysis compares the handling of magic in Spanish and French theater culture and everyday life. From this comparative perspective, it examines synchronous divergences in both cultural spheres regarding magical phenomena, metamorphoses, and witchcraft across various genres of drama (from comedy and tragedy to opera and other demonological and legal texts). Furthermore, it traces the significant diachronic developments of magical thinking in its astrological, alchemical, and miraculous medicinal branches within the 17th century, which encompasses several epistemological turning points. In this way, the volume offers literary historians fundamentally new insights into the theater and everyday life of early modern Romania.