Salem Story: Reading the Witch Trials of 1692 (Cambridge Studies in American Literature and Culture, Series Number 73) - Hardcover

Rosenthal, Bernard

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0521440610 ISBN 13: 9780521440615

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 1993

Synopsis

Salem Story engages the story of the Salem witch trials by contrasting an analysis of the surviving primary documentation with the way events of 1692 have been mythologised by our culture. Resisting the temptation to explain the Salem witch trials in the context of an inclusive theoretical framework, the book examines a variety of individual motives that converged to precipitate the witch-hunt. Of the many assumptions about the Salem witch trials, the most persistent is that they were instigated by a circle of hysterical girls. Through an analysis of what actually happened - by perusal of the primary materials with the 'close reading' approach of a literary critic - a different picture emerges, one where 'hysteria' inappropriately describes the logical, rational strategies of accusation and confession followed by the accusers, males and females alike.

About this title

Review:

'The author's reflections on Salem's continuing symbolic resonance, make Salem Story thoroughly rewarding'. The Times Literary Supplement

Book Description:

Salem Story engages the story of the Salem witch trials by contrasting an analysis of the surviving primary documentation with the way events of 1692 have been mythologised by our culture. Rosenthal paints a picture of Salem where healthy accusers use rational strategies, and are not at all the hysterical creatures of popular myth.

About this edition

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 1993
• ISBN 10: 0521440610
• ISBN 13: 9780521440615
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 302