Performing Magnetism
The Theatrics of Persuasion in the Long Nineteenth Century
Published on 6. May 2026
Book
Paperback/Softback
250 pages
978-94-6270-516-6 (ISBN)
Description
The cultural and scientific significance of animal magnetism as performance.
The long nineteenth century bears the mark of Anton Mesmer. In a burgeoning media landscape, and in an emerging entertainment culture that fashioned growing numbers of people into audiences, the performative qualities of Mesmer's magnetic healing techniques came to define magnetism's cultural power. Shaped by many performers, magnetism flowed into other practices - mentalist, somnambulist, spiritist, hypnotist, mystical, magical and medical. Examining mesmerism as a socially and theatrically embedded phenomenon, Performing Magnetism shows that it was not merely a medical or pseudoscientific practice but a performative and culturally situated one. Drawing on new case studies from Europe, Asia and Northern Africa, the book offers a transnational perspective on nineteenth-century epistemologies and explores how magnetic practices intersected with science, art, popular entertainment, and engagement with the occult. Its interdisciplinary scope will engage readers interested in the cultural history of performance, media, and knowledge.
The long nineteenth century bears the mark of Anton Mesmer. In a burgeoning media landscape, and in an emerging entertainment culture that fashioned growing numbers of people into audiences, the performative qualities of Mesmer's magnetic healing techniques came to define magnetism's cultural power. Shaped by many performers, magnetism flowed into other practices - mentalist, somnambulist, spiritist, hypnotist, mystical, magical and medical. Examining mesmerism as a socially and theatrically embedded phenomenon, Performing Magnetism shows that it was not merely a medical or pseudoscientific practice but a performative and culturally situated one. Drawing on new case studies from Europe, Asia and Northern Africa, the book offers a transnational perspective on nineteenth-century epistemologies and explores how magnetic practices intersected with science, art, popular entertainment, and engagement with the occult. Its interdisciplinary scope will engage readers interested in the cultural history of performance, media, and knowledge.
Reviews / Votes
Performing Magnetism is a groundbreaking volume that reimagines animal magnetism as a performative, transnational phenomenon. Rich in interdisciplinary insight and compelling case studies, it offers a fresh lens on the intersections of science, spectacle, and belief - essential reading for scholars of cultural history, performance, and the history of science. - Eleanor Dobson, University of BirminghamMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
Leuven
Belgium
Target group
US School Grade: College Graduate Student and over
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Illustrations
Not illustrated
Dimensions
Height: 234 mm
Width: 156 mm
Thickness: 16 mm
Weight
435 gr
ISBN-13
978-94-6270-516-6 (9789462705166)
DOI
10.11116/9789461667526
Copyright in bibliographic data is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or its licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Eleonora Paklons is a doctoral researcher working on magic lantern travelogues at the University of Antwerp. She is also co-editor of a volume on the history of the magic lantern and popular entertainment.
Kristof Smeyers is a senior research fellow at KU Leuven. He has written books on the history of religion and the supernatural, fauna, flora and folklore.
Kurt Vanhoutte is Full Professor and Chair of Theatre and Performance Studies at the University of Antwerp. His research explores the intersections of media technology, performative culture, and illusionism since the nineteenth century.
Hannah Welslau is a doctoral researcher at the University of Antwerp. Her work focuses on spiritism, performance, and popular entertainment in Belgium. Her research is funded by The Research Foundation Flanders.
Kristof Smeyers is a senior research fellow at KU Leuven. He has written books on the history of religion and the supernatural, fauna, flora and folklore.
Kurt Vanhoutte is Full Professor and Chair of Theatre and Performance Studies at the University of Antwerp. His research explores the intersections of media technology, performative culture, and illusionism since the nineteenth century.
Hannah Welslau is a doctoral researcher at the University of Antwerp. Her work focuses on spiritism, performance, and popular entertainment in Belgium. Her research is funded by The Research Foundation Flanders.
Content
Setting the stage
Eleonora Paklons, Kristof Smeyers, Kurt Vanhoutte, and Hannah Welslau
PART 1: POWER & PERSUASION
1 Performing therapeutic magnetism in mid-nineteenth-century Brussels
Kaat Wils
2 Performances and trajectories of magnetism in nineteenth-century Budapest
Kornelia Deres
3 Performing magnetism in mid-nineteenth-century Italy: The 1856 challenge between Francesco Guidi and Antonio Zanardelli
Gennaro Ambrosino
4 Under the sway of performance: The somnambulist stage of Prudence Bernard and Auguste Lassaigne
Kurt Vanhoutte
PART 2: BELIEF & COSMOLOGY
5 Magnetic musings: George Baldwin and the divine traveller in Egypt
Robert Rix
6 Mediums and magnetisers: The entanglement of spiritism and magnetism and its performative and religious effects in nineteenth-century Belgium
Hannah Welslau
7 Magnetism and spiritism in the Ottoman Empire (1850s-1870s)
OEzguer Tueresay
8 Magnetism, mysticism, and the devil
Kristof Smeyers
PART 3: IDENTITY & AFFECT
9 The embodied self: Automatism, power, and gendered autonomy
Stephanie Peel
10 Entertaining, healing, and fighting death: Madame Plainchant's magnetic diary, 1851-1854
Thibaut Rioult
11 Performing magnetism in Charles de Villers' Le magnetiseur amoureux (1787)
Alessandra Aloisi
PART 4: MEDIA & THE SENSES
12 Music and magnetism from Mesmer to the rise of hypnosis
Olivier Verhaegen
13 Under the lantern's spell: The use of the magic lantern within magnetism
Eleonora Paklons
14 The magnetic performances of Jules de Rovere: Between automata, prestidigitation, and scientific popularisation
Andrea Ceci
PART 5: THEATRICS & THE ARTS
15 "I am going to unwrap the secret of secrets": Performing the trial of mesmeric and spiritualist authorship in Jean Cocteau's Orphee
Zoe Ghyselinck
16 Svengali's resurrection: Mesmerism, myth, and performance
Miranda Zent
17 Choreographing magnetism: The performance of knowledge in the ethereal field of forces
Julia Ostwald
Bibliography
Eleonora Paklons, Kristof Smeyers, Kurt Vanhoutte, and Hannah Welslau
PART 1: POWER & PERSUASION
1 Performing therapeutic magnetism in mid-nineteenth-century Brussels
Kaat Wils
2 Performances and trajectories of magnetism in nineteenth-century Budapest
Kornelia Deres
3 Performing magnetism in mid-nineteenth-century Italy: The 1856 challenge between Francesco Guidi and Antonio Zanardelli
Gennaro Ambrosino
4 Under the sway of performance: The somnambulist stage of Prudence Bernard and Auguste Lassaigne
Kurt Vanhoutte
PART 2: BELIEF & COSMOLOGY
5 Magnetic musings: George Baldwin and the divine traveller in Egypt
Robert Rix
6 Mediums and magnetisers: The entanglement of spiritism and magnetism and its performative and religious effects in nineteenth-century Belgium
Hannah Welslau
7 Magnetism and spiritism in the Ottoman Empire (1850s-1870s)
OEzguer Tueresay
8 Magnetism, mysticism, and the devil
Kristof Smeyers
PART 3: IDENTITY & AFFECT
9 The embodied self: Automatism, power, and gendered autonomy
Stephanie Peel
10 Entertaining, healing, and fighting death: Madame Plainchant's magnetic diary, 1851-1854
Thibaut Rioult
11 Performing magnetism in Charles de Villers' Le magnetiseur amoureux (1787)
Alessandra Aloisi
PART 4: MEDIA & THE SENSES
12 Music and magnetism from Mesmer to the rise of hypnosis
Olivier Verhaegen
13 Under the lantern's spell: The use of the magic lantern within magnetism
Eleonora Paklons
14 The magnetic performances of Jules de Rovere: Between automata, prestidigitation, and scientific popularisation
Andrea Ceci
PART 5: THEATRICS & THE ARTS
15 "I am going to unwrap the secret of secrets": Performing the trial of mesmeric and spiritualist authorship in Jean Cocteau's Orphee
Zoe Ghyselinck
16 Svengali's resurrection: Mesmerism, myth, and performance
Miranda Zent
17 Choreographing magnetism: The performance of knowledge in the ethereal field of forces
Julia Ostwald
Bibliography