Charms, Charmers and Charming

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xxvii

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2. Topics and Issues in Charms Studies

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 1-1

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   2. The Charmer’s Body and Behaviour as a Window Onto Early Modern Selfhood

      • Laura Stark

      Pages 3-16

   3. ‘If Not, Shall Employ “Rough on Rats”’: Identifying the Common Elements of Rat Charms

      • Paul Cowdell

      Pages 17-26

   4. Miracles and Impossibilities in Magic Folk Poetry

      • Éva Pócs

      Pages 27-53

   5. Swedish Snakebite Charms from a Gender Perspective

      • Ritwa Herjulfsdotter

      Pages 54-61

   6. Charms as a Means of Coping

      • Ulrika Wolf-Knuts

      Pages 62-70

   7. On Systematizing the Narrative Elements of Slavic Charms

      • Vladimir Klyaus

      Pages 71-86

   8. Conformity and Originality in Middle English Charms

      • T. M. Smallwood

      Pages 87-99

   9. The Nightmare Charm in King Lear

      • Jacqueline Simpson

      Pages 100-107

   10. Expressions of Impossibility and Inevitability in Mari Charms

       • Natalia Glukhova, Vladimir Glukhov

       Pages 108-118

3. National Traditions

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 119-119

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   2. Russian Love Charms in a Comparative Light

      • Andrei Toporkov

      Pages 121-144

   3. Slovenian Charms Between South Slavic and Central European Tradition

      • Monika Kropej

      Pages 145-162

   4. Finnish Snake Charms

      • Henni Ilomäki

      Pages 163-173

   5. Estonian Narrative Charms in European Context

      • Jonathan Roper

      Pages 174-185

   6. Lithuanian and Latvian Charms: Searching for Parallels

      • Daiva Vaitkevičienė

      Pages 186-213

   7. The Corpus of Charms in the Middle English Leechcraft Remedy Books

      • Lea Olsan

      Pages 214-237

   8. The Charms of Biljana, a Bajalica (Conjuror) in Budisava, Serbia

      • Maria Vivod

      Pages 238-245

   9. Verbal Charms in Malagasy Folktales

      • Lee Haring

      Pages 246-259

Bringing together many of today's key scholars of verbal charming, these essays cover vernacular magical texts and practice from Malaysia to Madagascar, and from England to Estonia. As the most comprehensive collection of research on charms, charmers and charming available in the English language, it forms an essential reader on the topic.

• England
• Europe
• gender
• Narrative
• poetry
• Russia
• Slovenia
• structure
• Tradition

'In this ?New Age' of mass production of manuals of magic and Wicca-books, it is amazing how little scholarship has been produced about practical uses of magic, past and present. This rich book, authored by the leading charm experts, provides us not only with pieces of verbal magic, but also with interpretations, discussions and thoughtful comparisons. Charms, once considered a minor genre of folklore, are here opened up as a powerful source of diverse knowledge about European heritage, human thought, worldview, social conflicts and about magical solutions that charmers have offered to crisis situations worldwide.' - Ülo Valk, Professor of Estonian and Comparative Folklore, University of Tartu, Estonia, and President, International Society for Folk Narrative Research

'Thanks to its eclectic manner this book is a perfect source of information on what has happened in the fi eld of charm-related research lately. Last but not least, those who are interested in specific themes, methods, or types of charms will find the editor's introduction and the detailed table of contents with sub-headlines of essays particularly helpful. Charming, indeed.' - Toms ?encis, Numen

'The volume is essential reading for anyone interested in the study of charms. For the non-converted, it is an excellent introduction to the complexities and subtleties of a fascinating subject. In short, this collection augurs most positively for our Silver Age of charm research, which appears tobe in safe hands.' - Bairbre N?? Fhloinn, Folklore

• University of Leeds, UK

  Jonathan Roper

PAUL COWDELL National Centre for English Cultural Tradition, University of Sheffield NATALIA GLUKHOVA Finno-Ugric Languages Department, Mari State University, Mari El, Russian Federation VLADIMIR GLUKHOV Freelance Researcher LEE HARING Professor Emeritus of English, Brooklyn College, the City University of New York RITWA HERJULFSDOTTER Doctoral Candidate of Ethnology, University of Gothenburg and Nordic Museum postgraduate school DAVID HUNT Professor Emeritus, London South Bank University HENNI ILOMÄKI Freelance Researcher VLADIMIR KLYAUS Institute of World Literature, Moscow MONIKA KROPEJ Senior Research Fellow, Institute of Slovene Ethnology, the Scientific Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Ljubljana LEA OLSAN Professor Emerita of English, the University of Louisiana at Monroe, USA LOW KOK ON Senior Lecturer, School of Arts of the Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Malaysia ÉVA PÓCS Professor Emerita, the University of Pécs, Hungary JONATHAN ROPER Teaching Fellow in English Language, the University of Leeds,UK JACQUELINE SIMPSON The Folklore Society T.M. SMALLWOOD Lecturer in English, the University of Ulster LAURA STARK Professor of Ethnology, University of Jyväskylä, Finland ANDREI TOPORKOV Researcher, Institute of the World Literature, Moscow MARY TSIKLAURI Associate, the Shota Rustaveli Institute of Georgian Literature, Tbilisi, Georgia DAIVA VAITKEVI?IEN? Senior Researcher, the Institute of Lithuanian Literature andFolklore MARIA VIVOD Associate Researcher, the Centre National de Recherches Scientifiques, France

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