The Locator -- [(subject = "English fiction--Women authors")]

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Author:
Madej-Stang, Adriana.
Title:
Which face of witch : self-representations of women as witches in works of contemporary British women writers / by Adriana Madej-Stang.
Publisher:
Cambridge Scholars Publishing,
Copyright Date:
2015
Description:
xi, 257 pages ; 21 cm
Subject:
Witches in literature.
English fiction--History and criticism.--History and criticism.
English fiction--Women authors.
Witches in literature.
Criticism, interpretation, etc.
Notes:
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Contents:
Part 1: Representations of Witches in History and Culture -- Introduction -- Chapter 1: The Meaning of the Term "Witch" -- Chapter 2: Magical Beliefs in Christianity -- Chapter 3: Witch Trials -- Chapter 4: Representations of Witches in the Twentieth Century -- Part 2: Literary Representations of Witches in English Literature Before the Twentieth Century -- Introduction -- Chapter 1: Old English and Medieval Literature -- Chapter 2: Renaissance and Baroque: Witch Craze -- Chapter 3: The Late Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries -- Part 3: The Witch in the Novels of Selected Women Writers of the Late Twentieth and Early Twenty-First Centuries -- Introduction -- Chapter 1: You, the Witch: Entangled in the Past - A Witch Rejected -- Chapter 2: Me, the Witch: Constructed in the Present - a Witch Embraced -- Chapter 3: Me, That Evil Witch: Rediscovering Evil - A Witch Rejecting -- Conclusion.
Summary:
"For centuries, the figure of the witch represented the hostile and feared other on the edge of human society, placed in between the world of people and the world of demons. Whether she stood for the untamed powers of nature, dark powers of knowledge or magic, or evil powers derived from the devil, she was always identified with fear as a disturbance, as a danger to the order of society and to the well-being of those who understood themselves as settled within the borders of the patriarchal order and its psychological and sexual corselet. In this role, the witch appeared in numerous literary works, including, among others, writings by Chaucer, Shakespeare and Middleton. However, since the 1840s, the image of the witch has undergone enormous transformations, mainly due to the influence of various matriarchate theories and of feminist ideas. The witch, reclaimed by women for women, became an identification figure and representative of their expectations, fears, hopes and claims. This study investigates examples of witches in publications by contemporary British women writers to see how this figure is perceived, related to, and utilised in their respective texts. Iris Murdoch, Jeanette Winterson, Angela Carter and Fay Weldon, among others, refer consistently to this witch figure, whom they interpret in various creative and surprising ways, adopting innovative approaches to this comparably ancient figure."--Provided by publisher.
ISBN:
9781443874533
1443874531
OCLC:
(OCoLC)905381297
Locations:
OVUX522 -- University of Iowa Libraries (Iowa City)

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