John Dee's Occultism: Magical Exaltation through Powerful Signs »

Delving into the life and work of John Dee, Renaissance mathematician and "conjurer to Queen Elizabeth," György E Szonyi presents an analysis of Renaissance occultism and its place in the chronology of European cultural history. Culling examples of "magical thinking" from classical, medieval, and Renaissance philosophers, Szonyi revisits the body of Dee's own scientific and spiritual writings as reflective sources of traditional mysticism. Exploring the intellectual foundations of magic, Szonyi focuses on the ideology of exaltatio, the glorification or deification of man. He argues that it was the desire for exaltatio that framed and tied together the otherwise varied thoughts and activities of John Dee as well.

Author Biography: György E. Szonyi is Associate Professor of English and Director of the Institute of English and American Studies at the University of Szeged, Hungary. He is the author of two other books on John Dee.