Servants of the Supernatural: The Night Side of the Victorian Mind - Softcover

Melechi, Antonio

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0099478862 ISBN 13: 9780099478867

Publisher: Random House Uk Ltd, 2009

Synopsis

Born of the so-called Victorian "pseudo science" of mesmerism, the séance enjoyed a late 19th-century golden age that ministered to the Victorian obsession with science, religious doubt, and entertainment. Mediums, psychics, and somnambulists were investigated by amateur sleuths and by scientists like Faraday and Darwin; their performances imitated and exposed by magicians, denounced by clerics, satirized hilariously in the press. Yet the popularity of spiritualism and the séance endured—and does so to this day. A revelatory exploration of the darker side of Victorian science, this narrative-driven history is full of literary and scientific anecdote and evocative depiction of 19th-century England.

About this title

From the Inside Flap

Born of the so-called Victorian ‘pseudo science’ of mesmerism (aptly described by Ambrose Bierce as 'Hypnotism before it wore good clothes, kept a carriage, and asked incredulity to Dinner'), the séance enjoyed a late 19th century golden age that ministered to the Victorian obsession with science, religious doubt, and entertainment.

It assumed myriad forms - from entranced maids lecturing on theology to clairvoyants giving notice of stolen property, rapped out messages from the spirit world and ghostly shapes appearing from dark cabinets. Mediums, psychics and somnambulists were investigated by amateur sleuths and by scientists like Faraday and Darwin; their performances imitated and exposed by magicians, denounced by clerics, satirised in the press. Yet the popularity of the séance endured – and does so to this day.

Among the broad gallery of Victorians who found spiritual succour in the mysteries and wonders of the séance are the quacks, bluffers and rogues, but also respected physicians like Dr. John Elliotson, an early champion of mesmerism, aristocrats and writers as real and rational as Charles Dickens and Arthur Conan Doyle. Servants of the Supernatural tells their fascinating story.

From the Back Cover

PRAISE FOR FUGITIVE MINDS:

'Gives a wonderful sense of the richness and strangeness of our mental lives.' Guardian

'Melechi admirably avoids closing down his subjects with explanations, and he never loses sight of questions about creativity and cultural value as well as pathology.' TLS

'Refreshingly undogmatic... Very well written and filled with literary and historical references... Even the most rigid biological determinist would surely be able to read these for profit and entertainment.' Fortean Times

Edition details

• Publisher: Random House Uk Ltd
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 0099478862
• ISBN 13: 9780099478867
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 290