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Monsters of the Gevaudan : the making of a beast / Jay M. Smith.
LIBRA DC611.G4 S64 2011
Available from offsite location
- Format:
- Book
- Author/Creator:
- Smith, Jay M., 1961-
- Language:
- English
- Subjects (All):
- Gévaudan (France)--Social life and customs--18th century.
- Gévaudan (France).
- Popular culture--France--Gévaudan--History--18th century.
- Popular culture.
- France--Gévaudan.
- History.
- Beast of Gévaudan--History.
- Beast of Gévaudan.
- Wolf attacks--France--Gévaudan--History--18th century.
- Wolf attacks.
- Wolves--France--Gévaudan--Folklore.
- Wolves.
- Monsters--France--Gévaudan--Folklore.
- Monsters.
- Narration (Rhetoric)--Social aspects--France--History.
- Narration (Rhetoric).
- Narration (Rhetoric)--Social aspects.
- France.
- Discourse analysis, Narrative.
- Genre:
- Folklore.
- Physical Description:
- 378 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm
- Place of Publication:
- Cambridge, Mass. : Harvard University Press, 2011.
- Summary:
- Women and children tending flocks were the primary victims of a mysterious monster that inflicted grisly death on some 60 people. The story was big news in France and Europe from November 1764, until November 1765, when a giant wolf was hunted down and the killings were attributed to that animal. The story has been retold and studied from many angles, but Smith (history, U. of North Carolina) takes a new approach. As he states in the introduction: "The identity of the beast presents a less compelling historical subject than the attitudes, assumptions, motives, and frustrations of the human beings who struggled to understand and defeat the lethal enemy in their midst. To probe these cultural and psychological depths, we must map the mental environment of the times." He does so in this study, investigating the interactions among "popular beliefs, scientific thought, religious tensions, media markets, aristocratic culture, local criminality, and postwar French politics...." Annotation ©2011 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
- Contents:
- Introduction: The beast and its world
- Sounding the alarm
- Monsters real and imagined
- Digesting defeat
- A star is born
- The perils of publicity
- Heroes and skeptics
- Exaggerated expectations and extraordinary endings
- Narrative echoes past and present
- Conclusion: The beast in history
- Note on place names.
- Notes:
- Includes bibliographical references and index.
- ISBN:
- 9780674047167
- 0674047168
- OCLC:
- 676725351
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