Synopses & Reviews
It is August 18, 1634. Father Urbain Grandier, convicted of sorcery that led to the demonic possession of the Ursuline nuns of provincial Loudun in France, confesses his sins on the porch of the church of Saint-Pierre, then perishes in flames lit by his own exorcists. A dramatic tale that has inspired many artistic retellings, including a novel by Aldous Huxley and an incendiary film by Ken Russell, the story of the possession at Loudun here receives a compelling analysis from the renowned Jesuit historian Michel de Certeau.
Interweaving substantial excerpts from primary historical documents with fascinating commentary, de Certeau shows how the plague of sorceries and possessions in France that climaxed in the events at Loudun both revealed the deepest fears of a society in traumatic flux and accelerated its transformation. In this tour de force of psychological history, de Certeau brings to vivid life a people torn between the decline of centralized religious authority and the rise of science and reason, wracked by violent anxiety over what or whom to believe.
At the time of his death in 1986, Michel de Certeau was a director of studies at the andeacute;cole des hautes andeacute;tudes en sciences sociales, Paris. He was author of eighteen books in French, three of which have appeared in English translation as The Practice of Everyday Life,The Writing of History, and The Mystic Fable, Volume 1, the last of which is published by The University of Chicago Press.
"Brilliant and innovative. . . . The Possession at Loudun is [de Certeau's] most accessible book and one of his most wonderful."and#8212;Stephen Greenblatt (from the Foreword)
Synopsis
It has been twenty-two years since the Press published the first volume of and#147;The Mystic Fableand#8221; in the Religion and Postmodernism series. The first volume quickly became influential across a wide range of humanistic disciplines and helped to make the tools of poststructuralist thought available to religious studies and theological contexts, especially in the areas of late medieval and early modern mysticism. Volume two has long been anticipated, but it had to wait for Certeauand#8217;s literary executor to gather the fragments after Certeauand#8217;s death, and compile them into a coherent book. Together, both volumes solidify Certeauand#8217;s place in French literary and philosophical circles, and continue his exploration of several interrelated areas, including the paradoxes of historiography, the construction of social reality through practice, testimony, and belief, the theorization of speech in angelology and glossalalia, and the interplay of prose and poetry in discourses of the ineffable. The book will be eagerly read and used by scholars in religious studies, theology, philosophy, history, and literary studies.
Synopsis
More than two decades have passed since Chicago published the first volume of this groundbreaking work in the Religion and Postmodernism series. It quickly became influential across a wide range of disciplines and helped to make the tools of poststructuralist thought available to religious studies and theology, especially in the areas of late medieval and early modern mysticism.
and#160;
Though the second volume remained in fragments at the time of his death, Michel de Certeau had the foresight to leave his literary executor detailed instructions for its completion, which formed the basis for the present work. Together, both volumes solidify Certeauandrsquo;s place as a touchstone of twentieth-century literature and philosophy, and continue his exploration of the paradoxes of historiography; the construction of social reality through practice, testimony, and belief; the theorization of speech in angelology and glossolalia; and the interplay of prose and poetry in discourses of the ineffable. This book will be of vital interest to scholars in religious studies, theology, philosophy, history, and literature.
Description
Includes bibliographical references (p. [229]-244) and index.
About the Author
Michel de Certeau (1925andndash;86) was a philosopher, historian, and Jesuit. He is the author of The Practice of Everyday Life, Heterologies: Discourse on the Other, and The Writing of History, in addition to The Mystic Fable, Volume One and The Possession at Loudun, both published by the University of Chicago Press.
Table of Contents
List of Illustrations
Foreword by Stephen Greenblatt
Translator's Acknowledgments
History Is Never Sure
1. How a Possession is Born
2. The Magic Circle
3. The Discourse of Possession
4. The Accused: Urbain Grandier
5. Politics in Loudun: Laubardemont
6. Beginning the Judicial Inquiry
7. The Theater of the Possessed
8. The Medical Eye
9. A Teratology of Truth
I. The Imagination
II. The Liar
10. The Judgment of the Sorcerer
11. The Execution: Legend and History
12. After Death, Literature
13. The Time of Spirituality: Father Surin
14. The Triumph of Jeanne des Anges
Figures of the Other
Primary Sources and Bibliography
Notes
Index