Earle J. Coleman – författare

An excellent and exhaustive expansion of Coleman's 20-page chapter in Volume 3 of the valuable Handbook of American Popular Culture. . . . Contents include a preface, introduction, chapters on history of magic, principles and appreciation, manuals on performance, relation to the other `arts,' biographies, and appendixes of historical dates, periodicals, directories, research collections, and dealers. Chapters contain very thorough bibliographies and there are author and subject indexes. It is impossible to imagine a more thorough guide to magic. Choice The work as a whole is an extremely valuable compilation of, and commentary on, nearly 1,000 titles dealing with magic, conjuring, and tricks that fool the eye. . . . [It is] a superb addition to any library's collection of books on the history, psychology, and techniques of magic. Reference Books BulletinThis reference guide provides a comprehensive view of magic, focusing on its history, psychology, techniques, and aesthetics. The text is in the form of topical bibliographical essays with additional theoretical remarks expressing Coleman's personal philosophy of conjuring. The work begins with a description of outstanding histories of magic and goes on to elucidate some of the major bibliographic sources on the principles of psychology and showmanship which separate the master conjurer from the amateur. Subsequent chapters evaluate manuals on the execution of magic, including all categories from card magic to stage illusions and telepathy.

Drawing from six living faiths, this book philosophically analyzes relations between art and religion in order to explain how the concepts "art," "beauty," "creativity," and "aesthetic experience" find their place or counterparts in religious discourse and experience.From the architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright to the rock gardens of Zen Buddhism, Coleman explores applied, fine, and folk arts in order to uncover points of coalescence between art and religion. Drawing from six living faiths (Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, and Taoism), this book philosophically analyzes relations between art and religion in order to explain how the concepts "art," "beauty," "creativity," and "aesthetic experience" find their place or counterparts in religious discourse and experience. Coleman repeatedly shows that aesthetic ideas can serve as bridges to spiritual categories, as when he relates aesthetic bliss to "the peace that passes all understanding."The author follows a three-fold approach; first, he examines ideas and motifs from religious classics in world literature, such as Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching and The Interior Castle by Teresa of Avila, in order to relate them to aesthetic phenomena. Second, he turns to the statements of artists, such as Leo Tolstoy, Vincent van Gogh, Paul Gauguin, Shih-t'ao, and Wassily Kandinsky, for themes and practices that have religious significance. Third, he analyzes and evaluates the writings of various theoreticians-philosophers, theologians, art critics, sociologists, and psychologists-on the relations between art and religion. Coleman demonstrates, for example, that Martin Buber's I-Thou relationship captures much that is central to art, creativity, and aesthetic experience as well as to religious life.Among the themes that receive sustained treatment are: the varieties of union in art and religion, the child as a paradigm for artists and saints, and creativity as essential to religion. Finally, the author critically weighs proposed distinctions between art and religion and between the broader categories of the aesthetic and the spiritual, rejecting some and showing how others are compatible with his proposal that the aesthetic and the spiritual are cognate categories.

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