A History of the Devil: From the Middle Ages to the Present

by Robert Muchembled

Overview

This 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.
• Robert Muchembled is a well-known historian and an expert on witchcraft, whose work has already been translated into many languages.
• The author highlights the way that the changing notion of evil is connected to other changes in society at large.
• Draws on a wealth of examples, from the witch-hunts of the 15th and 16th centuries, to the films of Stanley Kubrick.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780745628165
Publisher:	Polity Press
Publication date:	01/16/2004
Pages:	360
Product dimensions:	6.02(w) x 9.02(h) x 1.05(d)

About the Author

Robert Muchembled is a professor of history at the University of Paris XIII.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements.

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

Editorial Reviews

"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

From the Publisher