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Article: MAGIC The Book of English Magic By Philip Carr-Gomm and Richard Heygate JOHN MURRAY, pounds 25, 562 pp This compendium reveals more English magic than you can wave a wand at, finds an enchanted Suzi Feay
- Article from:
- The Sunday Telegraph London
- Article date:
- July 19, 2009
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright 2009 The Sunday Telegraph London. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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Aleister Crowley, J R R Tolkien, J K Rowling, Dion Fortune,
Susanna Clarke. Magic's influence on literature alone makes it a
worthy guest at the national feast. English magic has given us
Merlin and Morgan le Fay, Prospero and Harry Potter, Dumbledore and
Jonathan Strange. Writers have always dipped their buckets at this
deep well. To take a current example, Alan Moore is not only a great
graphic novelist but a working magician; his five 'Promethea'
volumes offer a beginner's course in the Kabbalah in the guise of a
superwoman comic.
This book isn't just about the metaphorical magic of artistic
creation, but the real thing: chaos magicians, druids, hedge
witches, healers, hexers and tarot ...