The Witch in History: Early Modern and Twentieth-Century Representations - Softcover

Purkiss, Diane

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0415087627 ISBN 13: 9780415087629

Publisher: Routledge, 1996

Synopsis

'Diane Purkiss ... insists on taking witches seriously. Her refusal to write witch-believers off as unenlightened has produced some richly intelligent meditations on their -- and our -- world.' - The Observer

'An invigorating and challenging book ... sets many hares running.' - The Times Higher Education Supplement

About this title

Review:

"Ms. Purkiss..has interesting things to say about contemporary witchcraft and some striking if idiosyncratic comments about earlier (mainly fifteenth-and sixteenth century) material...Her [Purkiss's] analysis of the contemporary witchcraft movement, like her analysis of their myths, though generally critical, is occasionally and almost reluctantly admiring.."
-" The New York Review of Books, October 1997
"The author has an impressive ... grasp of literary, philosophical, psychological, and ethnological sources and their relevance to women."
-"Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences

Synopsis:

From "Macbeth" to "The Wizard of Oz", from the hysteria of witch trials to emblems of 20th-century female empowerment, no matter how she is portrayed, the witch is an enduring source of fear and fascination. In this study, Diane Purkiss investigates the diverse interpretations and meanings attributed to the figure of the witch, encompassing a wide range of cultural norms which include Canonical literature, such as Shelley and Yeats, visual arts, fairy tales, folklore and real-life witch stories. Also considered are pornography and sado-masochism, film, from the classic Swedish "Haxan" to "The Witches of Eastwick", and the stage, including Shakespeare and Jonson.

About this edition

• Publisher: Routledge
• Publication date: 1996
• ISBN 10: 0415087627
• ISBN 13: 9780415087629
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 308