Curiosities

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29714, 6 January 1962, Page 3

Curiosities

Magic: Its Rites and History. By Maurice Bouisson. Rider. 319 pp.

It is impossible not to be fascinated by some of the more startling practices which fall under the label of magic. Maurice Bouisson has brought together a vast amount of material ranging from accounts of the rites and practices of ancient Egypt to those of the present day and drawn from countries as diverse in their cultural traditions as Germany, Tibet, Morocco, India and the United States. Eye-witness accounts are quoted to demonstrate the second-sight of a Laotian bonze, the ability of naked fakirs to meditate in the snows of the Himalayas, the ability of others to charm snakes and scorpions, to drive a sabre through the stomach without harm and to consume ritually red-hot coals. The author has divided his account of magic into three parts. There is, first, an account of three of its forms, sympathetic and talismanic magic and the magic of incantation. There is then a short history of magic with attention directed to certain selected events, texts and persons, with special reference to alchemy, the black mass and witchcraft trials. Finally, a very brief attempt is made to provide an account of the spirit and setting of magic, the context in which it flourishes and seems more plausible than our Western categories of thought normally permit us to believe. Maurice Bouisson, now living in retirement in North Africa, states that the aim in writing the book was to present a page in the history of comparative religion. It is dedicated to the memory of his former teacher, a professor of the History of Religion and Director of the French Institute of Oriental Archaeology in Cairo. Despite the assurance of the dust cover, this is not a work of considerable scholastic value and any reader with such expectations will be disappointed. The author does not really seem very interested in the nature and functions of magic so much as in its curious manifestations, and it is not surprising to find that he has omitted all reference to those anthropologists such as Malinowski and RadclifTe-Brown who have devoted attention to this problem. Bouisson’s book on magic is almost in the nature of a scrapbook of curiosities and those who ask for nothing more will find it most interesting.

In his inaugural lecture as Oxford Professor of Poetry last month, Mr Robert Graves distinguished between two kinds of poet: the "Apollonian” or artificial poet, and the true servant of the Muse. His example of the true and dedicated poet was, as might be expected, his old favourite the early sixteenth century poet John Skelton who. in fart, formed the principal subject of his first lecture. For in Skelton. Robert Graves finds all. those qualities of humour, sincerity, courage and capacity to love which he principally demands. Mr Graves also mentioned a third kind of poet, darkly designated as the Anti-Poet, who is to be the subject of another lecture.