William Mazzarella's book "Magnetizer" is a story of enchantments. The enchantment of the advertising business in a time of democratization. The enchantment of charismatic action, and the existential price of becoming a lightning rod for the desires of a generation. Finally, the seduction of the story itself, and the researcher's own struggle to come to terms with it. "Magnetizer" follows the reverberations of that initial meeting through questions of fantasy, memory, and the power of persona. Is this a case of literary ethnography—or an ethnographic novel? Mazzarella’s narrative lingers precisely where things feel unresolved, inviting us to reflect on what it means to be drawn in, transformed, and possibly undone by the very enchantments we seek to understand.

The Keynote lecture is a part of the research workshop “Affective dissonance as an epistemic resource” hosted by the CRC "Affective Societies" on July 3 at the Freie Universität Berlin.