ALTERED STATES OF LITERATURE: SHAMANIC ASSIMILATION AND ROMANTIC INSPIRATION
Marcel de Lima Santos
Aletria: Revista de Estudos de Literatura May 25, 2016 DOI: 10.17851/2317-2096.22.3.253-264 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Historical analysis Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Shamanism |
| Keywords | Xamanismo Romantismo Assimilação |
| Key points | Argues that English Romantic writers' ingestion of substances to alter consciousness and access the sacred parallels shamanic practices, despite cultural differences. |
Abstract
This article deals with the connections between the assimilation of certain shamanic practices related to Romantic inspiration in English literature. The interest in the world of altered states of consciousness as a manifestation of the sacred is typical among Romantic writers in nineteenth-century England. These writers in fact sought the manifestation of the world of dreams by means of ingesting substances that alter consciousness, thus assimilating a practice that is likewise and primarily shamanic. This search is the object under investigation in this article, which aims at showing that, despite conspicuous cultural differences, there are indeed similarities that pervade shamanic practices and the Romantic ideal in their quests toward the sacred.
Comparable studies
Other theoretical and historical papers on shamanism, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ayahuasca Shamanism in the Amazon and Beyond | 2014 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Shamanism as the Original Neurotheology | 2004 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Cognitive Neuroscience, Shamanism and the Rock Art of Native California | 1998 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| From Culture to Experience: Shamanism in the Pages of the Soviet Anti-Religious Press | 2020 | Historical analysis | |
| Anthropology, Shamanism, and Alternate Ways of Knowing–Being in the World: One Anthropologist's Journey of Discovery and Transformation | 2010 | Reflective essay or personal narrative |