Book description
Magic is not simply a matter of the occult arts, but a whole way of
thinking, of dreaming the impossible. The supreme fiction of magical
thinking is the Arabian Nights, with its flying carpets, hidden
treasure and sudden revelations.
As part of her exploration into the prophetic enchantments of the
Nights, Marina Warner retells some of the most wonderful and
lesser-known stories. She explores the figure of the dark magician or
magus, from Solomon to the wicked uncle in 'Aladdin'; the complex
vitality of the genies or jinn; and animal metamorphoses.
With startling originality and impeccable research, this
groundbreaking book shows how magic, in the deepest sense, helped to
create the modern world, and how profoundly it is still inscribed in
the way we think today.
Marina Warner spent her early years in Cairo, and was educated at a
convent in Berkshire, and then in Brussels and London, before studying
modern languages at Oxford. She is an internationally acclaimed cultural
historian, critic, novelist and short story writer. From her early books
on the Virgin Mary and Joan of Arc, to her bestselling studies of fairy
tales and folk stories,
From the Beast to the Blonde
and
No Go the Bogeyman
, her work has explored different figures in myth and fairy tale and the
art and literature they have inspired. She lectures widely in Europe,
the United States and the Middle East, and is currently Professor in the
Department of Literature, Film and Theatre Studies, University of Essex.
She was appointed CBE in 2008.
www. marinawarner. com
