Tis Magick, Magick That Will Have Ravished Me
Burn after Reading April 28, 2014 Lisa Weston
Medievalists, especially philologists, are often seen as preoccupied with dead languages and cultures, a pursuit that appears useless in a utilitarian, techno-bureaucratic university. Rather than surrender this love of the past, the author proposes transforming it from a mere fondness (philia) into a form of necromancy (necromantia), which involves discovering hidden knowledge and creating the future through engagement with the dead past. This reclamation reframes scholarly work with historical texts as a prophetic and creative act, not an abject one.