Exorcism and Its Texts: Subjectivity in Early Modern Literature of England and Spain

by Hilaire Kallendorf

Overview

Exorcism and demonic possession appear as recurrent motifs in early modern Spanish and English literatures. In Exorcism and Its Texts, Hilaire Kallendorf demonstrates how this 'infection' was represented in some thirty works of literature by fifteen different authors, ranging from canonical classics like Shakespeare, Cervantes, Ben Jonson, and Lope de Vega, to obscure works by anonymous writers.

From comic and tragic drama to picaresque narrative and eight other genres, possession worked as a paradigm through which authors could convey extraordinary experience, including not only demonic possession but also madness or even murder. The devil was thought to be able to enter the bodily organs and infect memory, imagination, and reason. Some came to believe that possession was tied to enthusiasm, poetic frenzy, prophecy, and genius. Authors often drew upon sensational details of actual exorcisms. In some cases, such as in Shakespeare, curing the body (and the body politic) meant affirming cultural authority; in others, as with Zamora, it clearly meant subverting it. Drawing on the disciplines of literary theory and history, Exorcism and its Texts is the first comprehensive study of this compelling topic.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781487587260
Publisher:	University of Toronto Press
Publication date:	12/15/2003
Pages:	360
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Hilaire Kallendorf is Professor of Hispanic and Religious Studies at Texas A&M University.

Table of Contents

	Acknowledgments	xi
	Prologue--A Force Within: The Importance of Demonic Possession for Early Modern Studies	xiii
	A Paradigm of Theologemes for Literary Exorcism	xxi
	Introduction: The Morphology of Exorcism, or a Grammar of Possession in Spanish and English Literature, 1550-1700	3
1	Demoniacs in the Drama: Theatricalities of Comic Possession and the Exorcism of the Body Politic	17
	The Demon Enters the Body: Alonso de la Vega's La duquesa de la rosa	19
	Symptoms of Possession: Jonson's The Devil is an Ass	23
	Demonic Polyglossia: Ruggle's Ignoramus	26
	The Coach: Jonson's Volpone	29
	The Exorcist: Shakespeare's Twelfth Night	33
	The Lovers' Ruse: The Bugbears	35
	The (Mock) Exorcism: Shakespeare's Comedy of Errors	39
	Binding the Body: Timoneda's Los menemnos	44
	Relics, Holy Water, and Other Props: Shadwell's The Lancashire Witches	48
	The Successful Exorcism: El pleyto que tuvo el diablo	51
	Exorcizing the Body Politic: Zamora's El hechizado por fuerza and Middleton's The Phoenix	56
2	Possessed Picaros and Satanic Satire	67
	An Erasmian View of Lazarillo's Fifth Tratado	68
	Another Picaro and Another Alguacil endemoniado: Quevedo's Buscon, Suenos, Satirical Poetry, and La endemoniada fingida	75
	Alguacil endemoniado or Demonio alguacilado?	79
	'The Experienced Mysteries of Damnation'	81
	'Da ... al discurso miedo': The Printing of Forbidden Knowledge	89
	'Libido sciendi'	92
3	Romance, the Interlude, and Hagiographical Drama: The Humanization of Possession and Exorcism	97
	Romance, the Interlude, and the Restoration of Order: Cervantes' Persiles and Lope's La endemoniada	99
	Rebirth and Hagiography: Cervantes' El rufian dichoso	104
	'False Miracles and Apocryphal Things': Cervantes and the Debate over the Comedia de santos	113
	Saint = Exorcist: Calderon's Las cadenas del demonio and Lope's El divino africano	117
4	Tragedy As the Absence or Failure of Exorcism	126
	The Relationship of Satire to Tragedy: Harsnett's Declaration	127
	Exorcism as Neo-Aristotelian Catharsis: King Lear	131
	The Demon As Scapegoat: A Yorkshire Tragedy, with a Note on Othello and Macbeth	140
	Tragedy, Possession, and Performativity: Hamlet	149
5	Self-Exorcism and the Rise of the Novel	157
	Poltergeists and Wizards: Supernatural Pranks in Part I of Don Quijote	158
	Mysterious Caves and Flying Horses: Diabolical Humour in Part II of Don Quijote	165
	Lucid Intervals and a Wise Enchanter: Demonic Possession in Don Quijote	167
	The Paradox of Self-Exorcism	176
	Self-Exorcism and the Rise of the Autonomous Novelistic Character	180
	Conclusion: Liturgy in Literature, or Early Modern Literary Theory and the Christian Legitimate Marvellous	184
	Epilogue: Problematizing the Category of 'Demonic Possession'	200
	Notes	207
	Bibliography	265
	Index	307

What People are Saying About This

Edward H. Friedman

'This is a very complete, very polished book, of exemplary range and depth. The topic is fascinating, the organization is superb, the readings are both subtle and persuasive, the style is elegant, and the materials that Hilaire Kallendorf has consulted and critiqued are extraordinarily broad... I am genuinely enthused by this book.'

Frederick de Armas

'Kallendorf's Exorcisms and Its Texts is a fascinating, important and suggestive study... It should have a wide readership extending to all who are interested in early modern cultures and literatures.'

Editorial Reviews

'This is a very complete, very polished book, of exemplary range and depth. The topic is fascinating, the organization is superb, the readings are both subtle and persuasive, the style is elegant, and the materials that Hilaire Kallendorf has consulted and critiqued are extraordinarily broad... I am genuinely enthused by this book.'

—Edward H. Friedman, Professor of Spanish and Comparative Literature, Vanderbilt University

'Kallendorf's Exorcisms and Its Texts is a fascinating, important and suggestive study... It should have a wide readership extending to all who are interested in early modern cultures and literatures.'

—Frederick de Armas, Andrew W. Mellon Professor in Humanities, University of Chicago

From the Publisher