Listen on Soundcloud

DOWNLOAD (PDF)

The transcript of this conference is only available in italian

Alternating historical and ethnographic quotes with references from pop culture, Marina Warner retraces the evolution of magic and spiritist imagery of the West referring to the anthropological discoveries following the great explorations of the XVI century. The violence of colonial power and imperialism had indeed a pivotal role in the stabilization of the imagination, which is strictly linked to psychology and society. The contacts with the indigenous people of the Americas, with their rituals and their shamans led to the standardization of a wide range of symbols and prerogatives which were attributed to the various inhabitants of the magic world as described by daemonology treats and by public edicts against the witches, by salon mediums and religious doctors, until they cementified in the collective unconscious.

Marina Warner (1946, London) is a writer and historian, specialized in myths and fairy tales. Among her publications on the topic are Phantasmagoria (2006), Stranger Magic: Charmed States & The Arabian Nights (2011), Once Upon a Time - A Short History of Fairy Tale (2014), and Forms of Enchantment: Writings on Art and Artists (2018). She has taught at the University of Essex and is a professor of English and Creative Writing at Birkbeck University of London, as well as being the first woman President of the Royal Society of Literature. Commenting on her work, she wrote: "Stories come from the past, but speak to the present and I have found that I need to write stories as well as deconstruct them and place them in historical context, because I myself love works of imagination and would like to be able to join the conversation with admired predecessors, who range from Apuleio to Virginia Woolf, Italo Calvino and Angela Carter".