superstition

[cacian]

cultural or just personal whatever it may be
it is often mentioned in literature so which book or story would you most associate with superstition?
any quotes included are most welcome.

One that most spring to mind is

the three witches in Macbeth
''for a charm of powerful trouble, Like a hell-broth boil and bubble. Double, double, toil and trouble; Fire burn, and cauldron bubble''

which has correlation with superstition.

[Danik 2016]

Interesting thread, cacian. Literary discussions have become so seldom on this site.

I live in a country where there are many superstitions: avoid passing under ladders is one of them. On the other hand, here I have never seen an apartment building without the 13th store as is so usual in NY.
I myself am superstitious about black magic. As the saying goes: "I don´t believe in witches, but they do exist"

[Francis Meadows]

Superstition (or is just simple magic) are rather present in Abercrombie's The First Law-trilogy. There is Old Logen talking to the spirits when he has had a drink or a smoke, and then there obviously are the Magi... Just one quote of many possible. This one is from The Blade Itself, the first book in the trilogy: "The magic leaks out of the world. That is the set order of things."

Funny that you mention the presence of 13th floors in buildings Danik 2016. The reason probably is that architecture and the craft of building is (has become) a very scientific and technical world, with not a loot of room for superstition. In other parts of society, the number 13 is however treated with a lot of scepsis. You will e.g. seldom see a race-car bearing the number 13 on a grid. It is even rumoured that the number 13 is banned out of the serial numbers of the parts on race-cars.

Francis

[ennison]

That's a difficult one. Most literature has a magical element in it somewhere. King states that the whole process is an example of telepathy. I can be entertained by the concept of gingerbread houses without ever admitting that such a house was ever built anywhere. I can see the understandable fear of spiders transforming itself into a series of superstitious beliefs about them. I read "An Instance of the Fingerpost" by Iain Pears not that long ago. One of its minor themes is the clash between science and superstition. As for the number 13... many streets in the UK do not have a number 13. My father died in a number 13 and a close friend's father also died in the same house.Most of the Grimms' tales are built around beliefs that could be superstitious. I don't know if this drive-by shooting answers your question Cacian.