Magic and Memory in Giordano Bruno: The Art of a Heroic Spirit

In Magic and Memory in Giordano Bruno Manuel Mertens unravels the enigmatic knot between the mnemonic treatises and the magical writings of the sixteenth-century Italian philosopher Giordano Bruno. Since long the magical orientation of the Brunian art of memory has been a preoccupation for Bruno scholars (like Paolo Rossi, Frances Yates and Rita Sturlese). This serious study of the philosophical underpinnings of both Bruno’s mnemonic treatises and his writings on magic shows that Bruno believed his mnemonic method could prevent demons from corrupting the cognitive process. Mertens’s focus on Bruno’s idea of deification through memory and the philosopher’s view on fiery heroic spirits points to a surprisingly literal reading of the heretic’s last words.