Description
Book SynopsisPursuing special experiences that take them to the brink of permanent madness or death, men and women in every age have "returned" to heal and comfort their fellow human beings--and these shamans have fascinated students of society from Herodotus to Mircea Eliade. Gloria Flaherty's book is about the first Western encounters with shamanic peoples an
Table of ContentsList of IllustrationsPrefaceIntroduction3Pt. 1From Fables to Facts: The European Reception of ShamanismCh. 1The Paradigm of Permissibility, or, Early Reporting Strategies21Ch. 2Eighteenth-Century Observations from the Field43Ch. 3Interaction, Transformation, and Extinction67Ch. 4Shamanism among the Medical Researchers97Pt. 2Back to Fictions and Fantasies: The Implications of Shamanism for the Arts in EuropeCh. 5The Impact of Russia on Diderot and Le neveu de Rameau117Ch. 6Herder on the Artist as the Shaman of Western Civilization132Ch. 7Mozart, or, Orpheus Reborn150Ch. 8Shamans Failed and Successful in Goethe166Ch. 9Faust, the Modern Shaman183Afterword: Toward a Shamanology208Notes217Bibliography259Index293
