Reading Witchcraft

In this original study of witchcraft, Gibson explores the stories told by and about witches and their 'victims' through trial records, early news books, pamphlets and fascinating personal accounts. The author discusses the issues surrounding the interpretation of original historical sources and demonstrates that their representations of witchcraft are far from straight forward or reliable. Innovative and thought-provoking, this book sheds new light on early modern people's responses to witches and on the sometimes bizarre flexibility of the human imagination.

List of contents

Introduction; Part 1 Records; Chapter 1 Ghost-writers—dialogue, interrogation and the production of the records of witchcraft; Chapter 2 Witchcraft trials and a methodology for reading them; Chapter 3 Deconstructing generic stories; Part 2 Pamphlets; Chapter 4 ‘Necessary’ and ‘triviall’ pamphlets; Chapter 5 Prefaces; Chapter 6 An Open Conclusion, or ‘Where do we go from here?’;

About the author

Marion Gibson is Lecturer at the University of Exeter

Summary

Reading Witchcraft explores the stories told by and about 'witches' and their 'victims', and questions what can be recovered from their trial records, pamphlets and personal accounts. It is an invaluable study of witchcraft stories.

Product details

• Authors: Marion Gibson
• Publisher: Taylor and Francis
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 06.05.1999
• EAN: 9780415206457
• ISBN: 978-0-415-20645-7
• No. of pages: 256
• Weight: 566 g
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > History; Non-fiction book > History > Miscellaneous; England, Witchcraft, RELIGION / Wicca, HISTORY / Social History, Social & cultural history, RELIGION / Demonology & Satanism, Social and cultural history, Satanism & demonology, Satanism and demonology, Satanism / demonology