Eros and Magic in the Renaissance

The book explores the status of the imagination during the Renaissance and how it transformed during the Reformation. It attempts to encompass the concepts of a fantastic era—its zenith and its decline.

Through the theories of Neoplatonists such as Pico della Mirandola, Marsilio Ficino, and Giordano Bruno, Couliano analyzes magic, defining it as a science of the imaginary. In doing so, he outlines the portrait of the Renaissance magician: a master manipulator. At its peak, magic served as a method of controlling individuals and the masses, grounded in a deep understanding of personal and collective erotic drives. Everything could be manipulated through the imagination; Couliano recognizes magic as a distant precursor not only to psychoanalysis, but also to applied psychosociology and mass sociology.

The Reformation, followed by the Counter-Reformation, managed to impose a radical censorship of the imaginary that ultimately eliminated magic. According to Ioan Couliano, this censorship paved the way for the exact sciences and modern technology to thrive.

In his preface, Mircea Eliade explicitly emphasizes that Ioan Couliano's interpretations are both novel and original.

The book was published in French by the Paris publishing house Flammarion in 1984.