 Cover of the first edition | |
| Authors | Louis Pauwels Jacques Bergier |
|---|---|
| Original title | Le Matin des magiciens |
| Translator | Rollo Myers |
| Language | French |
| Subject | Theoccult |
| Publisher | Éditions Gallimard |
Publication date | 1960 |
| Publication place | France |
Published in English | 1963 (Stein and Day) |
| Media type | |
The Morning of the Magicians: Introduction to Fantastic Realism (French:Le Matin des magiciens) is a 1960 book by the journalistsLouis Pauwels andJacques Bergier. As the authors disclaim in their preface, the book is intended to challenge readers' viewpoints on historic events, whether they believe the explanations or not, but with the goal to give readers the opportunity to test their level ofcognitive dissonance andcritical thinking skills. Although the book presents a collection of "raw material for speculation of the most outlandish order," the same reviewer also noted "it is the instigation of original thought that matters."[1] It covers topics likecryptohistory,ufology,occultism in Nazism,alchemy,spiritual philosophy and is thus often referenced byconspiracy-theory enthusiasts.
Written in French,Le Matin des magiciens was translated into English by Rollo Myers in 1963 under the titleThe Dawn of Magic, and in 1964 released in the United States asThe Morning of the Magicians (Stein and Day; paperback in 1968 byAvon Books). A German edition was published 1962 with the titleAufbruch ins dritte Jahrtausend (Departure into the Third Millennium).
The Morning of the Magicians became a cult classic within theyouth culture in France in the 1960s and the 1970s. Cautioned by the hostile reception from skeptic reviewers (notable among whom were the secular humanistsYves Galifret,Evry Schatzman andJean-Claude Pecker from theRationalist Union, who debunked the book inLe Crépuscule des magiciens (1965); "The Twilight of the Magicians"[2]),Pauwels and Bergier went on to pursue their interest in the paranormal in the magazinePlanète, dedicated to what they termedréalisme fantastique (fantastic realism). BothThe Morning of the Magicians and thePlanète magazine had considerable influence on theesotericism of the1960s–1970s counterculture, heralding the popularization of certainNew Age ideas.[3]
Pauwels and Bergier worked on the book over five years, compiling voluminous documentation incorporated into theBibliothèque nationale de France asFonds Pauwels in 2007. Heavily influenced byCharles Fort's work and ideas, the authors' primary aim was to arouse the curiosity of their readership, stating "Let us repeat that there will be a lot of silliness in our book, but this matters little if the book stirs up a few vocations and, to a certain degree, prepares broader tracks for research".[4]
In a 2004 article forSkeptic, the authorJason Colavito wrote that the book's tales ofancient astronauts predatedErich von Däniken's works on the topic, and that the ideas are so close to the fictional works ofH. P. Lovecraft such as "The Call of Cthulhu" orAt the Mountains of Madness (published in 1928 and 1931, respectively) that, according to Colavito, it is probable that Lovecraft's fiction directly inspired the book.[5]
Kenneth Feder comments on this book in his bookFrauds, Myths, and Mysteries: Science and Pseudoscience in Archaeology. After noting several major errors relating to archaeology, he comments that "The often bizarre claims in 'The Morning of the Magicians that were related to physics, chemistry, biology, psychology, and history seemed plausible to me primarily because I did not have the knowledge necessary to assess them intelligibly."[6]
Related to von Däniken's thesis is another theme ofThe Morning of the Magicians that impacted on the sixties: the idea of some great leap in human consciousness, an evolutionary mutation that was about to take place, if it hadn't already begun, and which would result in the new man.