ENGL 3060 Short paper 5 Due: Friday 27 April 2012 Worth: 10% of final mark You must complete

either this paper OR short paper 6 Prompt In A General Theory of Magic, Marcel Mauss writes: The successive gestures of an artisan may be as uniformly regulated as those of a magician. Nevertheless, the arts and crafts have been universally distinguished from magic; there has always been an intangible difference in method between the two activities. As far as techniques are concerned, the effects are considered to be produced through a persons skill. Everyone knows that the results are achieved through the coordination of action, tool and physical agent. Effect follows immediately from cause. However, to distinguish magic from arts and crafts, he writes: [I]n magical practices, words, incantations, ritual and astrological observances are magical; this is the realm of the occult and of the spirits, a world of ideas which imbues ritual movements and gestures with a special kind of effectiveness, quite different from their mechanical effectiveness. It is not really believed that the gestures themselves bring about the result. The effect derives from something else, and usually this is not of the same order. Although Mauss was writing of real historical magical practices, we can nonetheless draw upon his ideas. Choose two of our texts (by different writers) and discuss their treatment of magic in the context of Mauss argument. What is this something else that distinguishes magic from arts and crafts in these texts? You may wish to consider the different forms that magic may take in your chosen text (divine, demonic, folk, etc.). You may also wish to consider examples of the intersection of magic and arts and crafts (as in the case of the magical item). How does the treatment of magic in each text (whether each gives the same treatment or otherwise) relate to the themes these texts explore? Requirements Papers should be a minimum of 3 and a maximum of 4 pages long. Papers should be printed out in a normal typeface (preferably Times New Roman and NOT Courier). 12 pt font. Normal (MS Word standard) margins. They should be double-spaced. They should be stapled or paperclipped. I will not accept papers that are not bound in some mechanical fashion. Origami does not count. Please indicate on your paper whether you are turning in your first, second, or third response. Do not consult any outside works. Do not quote the entire passage from the prompt. Do not draw your entire paper from class discussions. Discuss a different aspect of the texts, address a different scene. Include a title. The title should not be Title, Response paper, or Crash. You must provide textual evidence from the text(s) you discuss. You should briefly quote relevant passages and explain those quotes.

Keep summary to a minimum. You do not need to include a works cited page or parenthetical citations so long as it's clear from the context what text you are citing. Edit. Proofread. These are not the same things. You should also spellcheck, which is a third task. You should also, of course, practice good writing, best usage, etc. As with anything having to do with this class: if you don't know, ask.