Literary notes about necromancy (AI summary)
The term "necromancy" in literature is portrayed as a multifaceted practice, one that straddles the lines between divination, dark magic, and moral ambiguity. In some texts, it is equated with other forms of future-telling—such as hydromancy in [1]—underscoring its use as a tool for foreseeing events through supernatural means. In contrast, authors like Harriet Beecher Stowe in [2] imbue necromancy with an aura of malevolence, transforming even the pure and sacred into objects of horror. Meanwhile, in works like those of Sir John Mandeville [3] and Marco Polo [4], necromancy is acknowledged as an enigmatic practice whose mechanisms, whether through craft or mystery, invite both wonder and skepticism. Sir Thomas Malory’s depiction in [5] and the allusions by Rabelais in [6] further associate necromancy with the pursuit of secret knowledge, albeit sometimes for dubious ends. Finally, its recurring connection to divination and the exploration of forbidden realms is echoed in both Charles Mackay’s [7] account and the critical tone of Jonathan Swift [8] and Walter Scott [9], where it is often linked with attempts to cloak malevolence or fraud. Overall, the term weaves through literature as a symbol of enigmatic power, reflecting both the fear and fascination it inspires.
- But whether it be called necromancy or hydromancy it is the same thing, for in either case the dead are supposed to foretell future things.
— from The City of God, Volume I by Bishop of Hippo Saint Augustine - There is a dread, unhallowed necromancy of evil, that turns things sweetest and holiest to phantoms of horror and affright.
— from Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe - And whether it be by craft or by necromancy I wot never; but it is a good sight to behold, and a fair; and it is great marvel how it may be.
— from The Travels of Sir John Mandeville by Sir John Mandeville - and so will tell you the sages of our own country who understand necromancy, for they also can perform it.[NOTE 11]
— from The Travels of Marco Polo — Volume 1 by Marco Polo and da Pisa Rusticiano - And the third sister Morgan le Fay was put to school in a nunnery, and there she learned so much that she was a great clerk of necromancy.
— from Le Morte d'Arthur: Volume 1 by Sir Thomas Malory - Or yet by the mystery of necromancy?
— from Gargantua and Pantagruel by François Rabelais - Necromancy was, next to astrology, the pretended science most resorted to, by those who wished to pry into the future.
— from Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds by Charles Mackay - I then absolutely concluded, that all these appearances could be nothing else but necromancy and magic.
— from Gulliver's Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World by Jonathan Swift - This charge of necromancy is right often used for cloaking evil practices on our people.”
— from Ivanhoe: A Romance by Walter Scott