Mapping early modern English witchcraft: A study of pamphlet, treatise, and drama.

Format:

Book

Thesis/Dissertation

Author/Creator:

Neureiter, Suzanne Finley.

Contributor:

University of Pennsylvania.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

English literature.

Irish literature.

British literature.

History, Modern.

Europe--History.

Europe.

History.

0335.

0582.

0593.

Local Subjects:

0335.

0582.

0593.

Physical Description:

222 pages

Contained In:

Dissertation Abstracts International 57-01A.

System Details:

Mode of access: World Wide Web.

text file

Summary:

The dissertation examines the explosion of early modern English writing on witchcraft that occurred roughly between 1550-1700, focusing on witchcraft trial pamphlets, treatises, and the drama of John Webster. The dissertation investigates the parallels between the early modern interest in witchcraft, the late seventeenth-century birth of sociology, and the passion for cultural and social mapping that swept England during the period. The dissertation argues that while the pamphlet and treatise literature of witchcraft claim to be purely descriptive, these forms in fact invent what they supposedly discover. The writing of such literature is spurred by a desire to know and define oneself, the surrounding world, and one's place in it, and is undertaken because of something that triggers uncertainty about once-certain beliefs. As such, the witchcraft found in the pamphlets and treatises is a tool used to define the culture. It is therefore tightly controlled by that culture rather than a true threat to it. Ironically, it is the metaphorical witchcraft found in John Webster's The White Devil and The Duchess of Malfi that embodies the unfettered power of creation hinted at in the pamphlets, treatises, and other, more explicit witchcraft plays. In the context of all three types of literature, the dissertation examines witchcraft in its physical (text and body), social, and philosophical embodiments, emphasizing the role these embodiments play in the rapid change of early modern English culture. The methodology combines anthropological, post-structuralist and feminist strategies, which offer access to the literature of witchcraft as it documents the struggle to understand and especially to control the massive intellectual, social, economic, religious, and political shifts in early modern England.

Notes:

Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 57-01, Section: A, page: 0237.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Pennsylvania, 1995.

Local Notes:

School code: 0175.

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license.