Магия слова в современной культуре: Имитация, пародия, перформативность

This thematic cluster of articles examines contemporary incantation texts – whether literary, parodied, or falsified – from the repertoire of pseudo-healers or neo-pagans. It also explores the influence of mythology and traditional verbal magic on poetic texts, including an analysis of one philosophical-literary methodology that sought to restore to poetry its original mythological-magical meanings. This introduction examines the functioning of traditional folklore magic and the differences between incantations and folk prayers. It takes an approach to folklore magic in terms of performativity theory. It further extends this performativity-focused approach to literary magic texts. It highlights the main features of the so-called “literary incantation”. It concludes that verbal magic has not disappeared from modern culture, and has even mostly retained its traditional forms in new circumstances – so long as the necessary performative context remains.