Echo and the Historiola: Theorizing the Narrative Incantation

Abstract

Abstract Narrative incantations known as historiolae appear frequently in many magical traditions, but scholarship on the subject is sparse, and current descriptions of the historiola’s mechanism are inadequate. This study addresses this lacuna. It examines and synthesizes the existing scholarly literature and develops a theory of echo in relation to the historiola. It explores two unusual ‘transubstantiative’ historiolae that demonstrate the value of this theory. The concept of echo advanced by this study not only expands upon our current understanding of the historiola but-together with the two case-studies-allows for several conceptual, formal, and pragmatic distinctions to be made within the primary literature.