The witch in history : early modern and twentieth-century representations / Diane Purkiss.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Purkiss, Diane, 1961-

Contributor:

Horace Howard Furness Memorial Fund.

Horace Howard Furness Memorial Library (University of Pennsylvania)

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Witchcraft--History.

Witchcraft.

History.

Witchcraft in literature--History.

Witchcraft in literature.

Witchcraft in art--History.

Witchcraft in art.

Physical Description:

viii, 296 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

New York, NY : Routledge, 1996.

Summary:

Throughout history the figure of the witch has embodied both male nightmare and female fantasy. While early modern women used belief and ritual to express and manage powerful feelings, the symbols and images surrounding the witch in the New World largely distorted the European views of Native American religions. In our own era, groups as diverse as women writers, academic historians and radical feminists have found in the witch a figure who justifies and defines their own identities. And there are many in the 1990s who still call themselves witches. From colonial narratives to court records and from Shakespeare to Sylvia Plath, "The Witch in History" shows how the witch has acted and continues to embody the fears, desires and fantasies of women and men.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Horace Howard Furness Memorial Fund.

ISBN:

0415087619

0415087627

OCLC:

187454042