The latter was written by a scholar interested in psychic phenomena, along with others of his time (which would include Arthur Conan Doyle). The former was written by a clergyman trying to record some Scottish folklore and reconcile it with snippets of Biblical texts. It is therefore much more mysterious than the little box of tricks and tales it initially seems to be.Ī late 17th manuscript embedded in a 19th century manuscript. Therefore, Kirk's accounts of the supernatural, as well as greatly influencing future writers of magical worlds, present a system of folklore that incorporates both genuine beliefs, and convenient but ludicrous alibis for social misadventure and mischief. The treatise is therefore much more than a retelling old wive's tales and superstition, but is a curious psychological investigation into the culture of reformation Scotland, and how beliefs persist in contradiction of and parallel to religion. It is also refreshing to find these occurances placed with tradition and folklore but from Kirk's own voice and upbringing, relaying original conversations. However, it is also remarkable that a Scottish minister should be so frank in his report of the nature of 17th Century beliefs, and give them a measured account, without contempt or disdain for the Elves, Fairies, Brownies and Spirits, or those who believe in them. Having languished in a manuscript form for a century, and having been written at a time when witchcraft was still an executionable offence, it might be easy to find fault with Kirk's archaic style, continual use of Scots gaelic, the confusing index, or his almost matter of fact tone. And in the final treatise you may be surprised by all the enchanting uses to which one can put spit and hair. But you will be charmed by colorful words like wramp* and trake**, lynx-eyed and planet-struck. The magic, which Kirk goes to great lengths to defend on Biblical grounds, is more your workaday second-sight hocus-pocus. The second half is fine, though much more sermon-like in tone. fairies, seemed to me like an expression of what was later called hysteria and automatism, those troubling incontinuities of self where we seem possessed or, in this book, replaced by a ‘co-walker’ or ‘reflex-man.’ Tropes that may seem cliché, like the Changeling and the Doppelgänger, are somehow strange and even kinda scary, as though experiencing them for the first time.
The first half paints a world view that isn’t just magical, but uncanny.
It could be a sourcebook for that novel’s bookish weirdness. I suspect Susanna Clarke was influenced by this book when writing Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell.
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