Mesmeric Clairvoyance in Mid-Victorian Literature: Eliot, Bulwer-Lytton, and MacDonald

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Abstract

In 1845, the natural philosopher William Grove reviewed Chauncy Hare Townshend's Facts in Mesmerism with Reasons for a Dispassionate Inquiry into it (1840) for Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine.1 Grove warily admitted that he was "by no means indisposed to believe some of the abnormal phenomena of mesmerism" but insisted on his "right to doubt, to disbelieve" (220). Such an attitude allowed popular magazines like Blackwood's to run articles on a subject that fascinated the Victorian public without appearing gullible.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)118-132
Number of pages15
JournalSupernatural Studies
Volume2
Issue number2
Publication statusPublished - Jul 2015

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