Description
Book SynopsisThis highly original and engaging book by French historian Robert Muchembled, is a journey through time and space in search of the changing perception and significance of the devil in Western culture. * An outstanding book about the changing perception and significance of the devil in Western culture.
Trade Review"Only on one level a history of the Devil; on a deeper level it is a history of the shifting and fluctuating status the Devil has occupied in Western culture ... a valuable book, once one has recognized its unusual intentions."
Richard Kieckhefer, Magic, Ritual, and Witchcraft
Table of ContentsAcknowledgements.
Introduction: A Thousand Years Of The Devil.
1. Satan Makes His Entry (Twelfth To Fifteenth Centuries):.
Satan And The Myth Of Primordial Combat.
Good And Bad Devils.
Instilling Fear: The Diabolic Obsession At The End Of The Middle Ages.
The Evil One And The Beast.
2. The Night Of The Sabbath:.
Heresy.
From Waldensians To Witches.
A Hammer To Crush The Witches.
Satanic Nudity.
The Triumph Of Demon-Mania.
The Mark Of The Devil.
3. The Devil In The Body:.
The Magical Body.
The Female Body.
Monsters And Marvels.
The Hell Of Sex.
Towards A History Of The Senses: The Promotion Of Sight.
Towards A History Of The Senses: The Demonising Of Smell.
4. Satanic Literature And Tragic Culture (1550-1650):.
The Fear Of Oneself.
Devil Books In Protestant Germany.
The Tragic Culture In France.
Rosset, The Devil And The Rotting Corpse.
Jean-Pierre Camus, Or The Spectacle Of Horror.
Bloody Tales: The Devil In The News.
The Baroque And Transgression.
5. The Twilight Of The Devil, From Classicism To Romanticism:.
Satan’s Final Apotheosis.
The Fragmented Images Of Evil.
A Disenchanted Devil.
The Symbolic Transition: From Satan To Mephistopheles.
The Contribution Of Fiction.
Beelzebub In Love.
6. The Demon Within (Nineteenth And Twentieth Centuries):.
Doctrinal Permanencies.
Having Fun With The Devil: The Gothic Novel And The Frénétiques.
The Rebel Angel Of The Satanists.
The Children Of The Devil.
The Diabolic Unconscious.
Taming The Shadows.
A Paper Devil?.
7. Pleasure Or Terror. The Devil At The End Of The Second Millennium:.
The Devil, Probably Prudent Exorcism.
“Devilish Good”: Advertising, Beer And The Strip Cartoon.
The Expressionist Devil: From The Golem To Dies Irae.
The Film Noir: Horror, Suspense And Perversion.
America’s Demons.
Conclusion. Dancing With The Devil.
Select Bibliography.
Select List Of Films
