English Magic and Imperial Madness

Peter D. Mathews is a professor of English literature at Hanyang University in Seoul, South Korea.

• Table of ContentsAcknowledgmentsPrefacePrologue: Merlin’s LegacyA Mystic Robe of Midnight BlueThe Mythological MagicianMerlin’s Imperial LegacyChapter 1. The Fantasy of a ReturnThe Modern Fantasy of ReturnThe Englishness of English MagicMagic’s PersistenceChapter 2. Writing, Text, MythologyAll the Texts of the WorldThe Man Who Was Also a BookWriting History, Writing FictionChapter 3. An Artificial MythDual PerspectivesThe English MaladyMythologies and EvasionsChapter 4. Through the ­Looking-GlassThe Paper MirrorThe Monarch and the MirrorThe Nameless SlaveChapter 5. Imperialism’s Magic HelperAnthropology and UnreasonThe Illusionist’s MissionThe Magic HelperChapter 6. The Reason of UnreasonMagic and MadnessReason’s DoubleReason and UnreasonEpilogue: New ConstellationsThe Starry HeavensEndless NightBeyond DisenchantmentThe Sky SpeaksReferencesIndex

“In a dazzling new reading, Peter D. Mathews reveals Susanna Clarke’s Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell as exposing myths of British self-satisfaction and enacting a destabilizing, exhilarating ‘change in the night sky’ of the world we think we know. This is first-rate criticism that opens a wonderful book to its readers as never before.”—Nicholas Birns, instructor, NYU Center for Applied Liberal Arts