Sophie Lunn-Rockliffe
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199230204
- eISBN:
- 9780191710681
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199230204.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Early Christian Studies
The works of Ambrosiaster, a Christian writing in Rome in the late 4th century, were influential on at the time and throughout the Middle Ages. This book starts by addressing the problem of the ...
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The works of Ambrosiaster, a Christian writing in Rome in the late 4th century, were influential on at the time and throughout the Middle Ages. This book starts by addressing the problem of the author's mysterious identity (which scholars have puzzled over for centuries) and places him in a broad historical and intellectual context. Later, it addresses Ambrosiaster's political theology, an idea which has been explored in other late Roman Christian writers but which has never been addressed in his works. The book also looks at how Ambrosiaster's attitudes to social and political order were formed on the basis of theological concepts and the interpretation of scripture, and shows that he espoused a rigid hierarchical and monarchical organization in the church, society, and the Roman empire. He also traced close connections between the Devil, characterized as a rebel against God, and the earthly tyrants and usurpers who followed his example.Less
The works of Ambrosiaster, a Christian writing in Rome in the late 4th century, were influential on at the time and throughout the Middle Ages. This book starts by addressing the problem of the author's mysterious identity (which scholars have puzzled over for centuries) and places him in a broad historical and intellectual context. Later, it addresses Ambrosiaster's political theology, an idea which has been explored in other late Roman Christian writers but which has never been addressed in his works. The book also looks at how Ambrosiaster's attitudes to social and political order were formed on the basis of theological concepts and the interpretation of scripture, and shows that he espoused a rigid hierarchical and monarchical organization in the church, society, and the Roman empire. He also traced close connections between the Devil, characterized as a rebel against God, and the earthly tyrants and usurpers who followed his example.
Carol Lansing
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195149807
- eISBN:
- 9780199849079
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195149807.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, European Medieval History
Catharism was a popular medieval heresy based on the belief that the creation of humankind was a disaster in which angelic spirits were trapped in matter by the devil. Their only goal was to escape ...
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Catharism was a popular medieval heresy based on the belief that the creation of humankind was a disaster in which angelic spirits were trapped in matter by the devil. Their only goal was to escape the body through purification. Cathars denied any value to material life, including the human body, baptism, and the Eucharist, even marriage and childbirth. What could explain the long popularity of such a bleak faith in the towns of southern France and Italy? This book explores the place of Cathar heresy in the life of the medieval Italian town of Orvieto. Based on extensive archival research, it details the social makeup of the Cathar community and argues that the heresy was central to the social and political changes of the 13th century. The late 13th-century repression of Catharism by a local inquisition was part of a larger redefinition of civic and ecclesiastical authority. The book shows that the faith attracted not an alienated older nobility but artisans, merchants, popular political leaders, and indeed circles of women in Orvieto, as well as in Florence and Bologna. Cathar beliefs were not so much a pessimistic anomaly as a part of a larger climate of religious doubt. The teachings on the body and the practice of Cathar holy persons addressed questions of sexual difference and the structure of authority that were key elements of medieval Italian life. The pure lives of the Cathar holy people, both male and female, demonstrated a human capacity for self-restraint.Less
Catharism was a popular medieval heresy based on the belief that the creation of humankind was a disaster in which angelic spirits were trapped in matter by the devil. Their only goal was to escape the body through purification. Cathars denied any value to material life, including the human body, baptism, and the Eucharist, even marriage and childbirth. What could explain the long popularity of such a bleak faith in the towns of southern France and Italy? This book explores the place of Cathar heresy in the life of the medieval Italian town of Orvieto. Based on extensive archival research, it details the social makeup of the Cathar community and argues that the heresy was central to the social and political changes of the 13th century. The late 13th-century repression of Catharism by a local inquisition was part of a larger redefinition of civic and ecclesiastical authority. The book shows that the faith attracted not an alienated older nobility but artisans, merchants, popular political leaders, and indeed circles of women in Orvieto, as well as in Florence and Bologna. Cathar beliefs were not so much a pessimistic anomaly as a part of a larger climate of religious doubt. The teachings on the body and the practice of Cathar holy persons addressed questions of sexual difference and the structure of authority that were key elements of medieval Italian life. The pure lives of the Cathar holy people, both male and female, demonstrated a human capacity for self-restraint.
Ian Bostridge
- Published in print:
- 1997
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198206538
- eISBN:
- 9780191677205
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198206538.003.0001
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Early Modern History, Social History
This introductory chapter sets out the objective of this book, which is to explain how belief in witchcraft in England moved from the 17th century respectability of sermons and treatises to 19th ...
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This introductory chapter sets out the objective of this book, which is to explain how belief in witchcraft in England moved from the 17th century respectability of sermons and treatises to 19th century embarrassment. This book suggests that witchcraft theory had a serious constituency well beyond 1700 and that the reasons for its loss of credibility were at least partly partly. It argues that witchcraft cantered on the notion of a covenant with the Devil to do harm to others.Less
This introductory chapter sets out the objective of this book, which is to explain how belief in witchcraft in England moved from the 17th century respectability of sermons and treatises to 19th century embarrassment. This book suggests that witchcraft theory had a serious constituency well beyond 1700 and that the reasons for its loss of credibility were at least partly partly. It argues that witchcraft cantered on the notion of a covenant with the Devil to do harm to others.
Nicholas P. Cushner
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- September 2006
- ISBN:
- 9780195307566
- eISBN:
- 9780199784936
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195307569.003.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, History of Christianity
The purpose of this book is to explain how Christianity replaced Native American belief systems in 16th-century America. The use of the confessionario was important in Christian evangelization but ...
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The purpose of this book is to explain how Christianity replaced Native American belief systems in 16th-century America. The use of the confessionario was important in Christian evangelization but coercion, the Devil, and Agriculturalist vs. Hunter-Gatherer societies were major elements in the replacement.Less
The purpose of this book is to explain how Christianity replaced Native American belief systems in 16th-century America. The use of the confessionario was important in Christian evangelization but coercion, the Devil, and Agriculturalist vs. Hunter-Gatherer societies were major elements in the replacement.
Sophie Lunn-Rockliffe
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199230204
- eISBN:
- 9780191710681
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199230204.003.0008
- Subject:
- Religion, Early Christian Studies
This chapter explores Ambrosiaster's presentation of the Devil as the tyrannical opponent of God, and a spiritual political model for earthly tyrants and usurpers. He was not the first Christian to ...
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This chapter explores Ambrosiaster's presentation of the Devil as the tyrannical opponent of God, and a spiritual political model for earthly tyrants and usurpers. He was not the first Christian to pair the diabolical and the political. Christian writers before Ambrosiaster had characterized persecuting emperors as tyrants and close to the Devil, and the Devil himself as a cruel, tyrannical ruler. However, where earlier writers had tended to focus on the brutal aspects of the Devil's tyranny, that is, on his cruel persecution of Christians, Ambrosiaster insisted that the Devil was a contumacious rebel who attempted a usurpation of God's kingship and successfully won mastery over sinful man. It is argued that historical circumstances may have influenced this shift; Ambrosiaster's Latin predecessors had lived under the threat of persecution and suffering (Lactantius under the pagan Diocletian, Hilary and Lucifer under the Arian Constantius), whereas Ambrosiaster's immediate historical context was that of a plethora of western usurpers.Less
This chapter explores Ambrosiaster's presentation of the Devil as the tyrannical opponent of God, and a spiritual political model for earthly tyrants and usurpers. He was not the first Christian to pair the diabolical and the political. Christian writers before Ambrosiaster had characterized persecuting emperors as tyrants and close to the Devil, and the Devil himself as a cruel, tyrannical ruler. However, where earlier writers had tended to focus on the brutal aspects of the Devil's tyranny, that is, on his cruel persecution of Christians, Ambrosiaster insisted that the Devil was a contumacious rebel who attempted a usurpation of God's kingship and successfully won mastery over sinful man. It is argued that historical circumstances may have influenced this shift; Ambrosiaster's Latin predecessors had lived under the threat of persecution and suffering (Lactantius under the pagan Diocletian, Hilary and Lucifer under the Arian Constantius), whereas Ambrosiaster's immediate historical context was that of a plethora of western usurpers.
Lawrence S. Wrightsman
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- May 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195368628
- eISBN:
- 9780199867554
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195368628.003.0007
- Subject:
- Psychology, Forensic Psychology
Two recent studies have concluded that Supreme Court decisions can be anticipated by the behavior of justices during the oral arguments, specifically that in the vast majority of cases (85%–90%) the ...
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Two recent studies have concluded that Supreme Court decisions can be anticipated by the behavior of justices during the oral arguments, specifically that in the vast majority of cases (85%–90%) the eventual losing side was asked more questions by the justices. But the conclusions of these studies were based on a limited number of cases (10 to 14). This chapter evaluates the claim by examining all the cases (70 to 80) in each of five terms and refining the definition of a “question.” The chapter finds that the side asked the most questions does lose more often (about 60% of the time), but not to the degree claimed in the earlier studies. The effect is much more salient in ideological cases than in nonideological ones.Less
Two recent studies have concluded that Supreme Court decisions can be anticipated by the behavior of justices during the oral arguments, specifically that in the vast majority of cases (85%–90%) the eventual losing side was asked more questions by the justices. But the conclusions of these studies were based on a limited number of cases (10 to 14). This chapter evaluates the claim by examining all the cases (70 to 80) in each of five terms and refining the definition of a “question.” The chapter finds that the side asked the most questions does lose more often (about 60% of the time), but not to the degree claimed in the earlier studies. The effect is much more salient in ideological cases than in nonideological ones.
Adam Gussow
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- January 2018
- ISBN:
- 9781469633664
- eISBN:
- 9781469633688
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of North Carolina Press
- DOI:
- 10.5149/northcarolina/9781469633664.001.0001
- Subject:
- Music, History, American
This book explores the role played by the devil figure within an evolving blues tradition. It pays particular attention to the lyrics of recorded blues songs, but it also seeks to tell a story about ...
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This book explores the role played by the devil figure within an evolving blues tradition. It pays particular attention to the lyrics of recorded blues songs, but it also seeks to tell a story about blues-invested southern lives. The first four chapters investigate, in sequence, the origins and meaning of the phrase "the devil's music" within black southern communities; the devil as a figure who empowers and haunts migrant black blueswomen in the urban North of the Jazz Age; the devil as a symbol of white maleficence and an icon for black southern bluesmen entrapped in the "hell" of the Jim Crow system; and the devil as shape-shifting troublemaker within blues songs lamenting failed romantic relationships. The fifth chapter is an extended meditation on the figure of Robert Johnson. It offers, in sequence, a new interpretation of Johnson's life and music under the sign of his mentor, Ike Zimmerman; a reading of Walter Hill's Crossroads (1986) that aligns the film with the racial anxieties of modern blues culture; and a narrative history detailing the way in which the townspeople of Clarksdale, Mississippi transformed a pair of unimportant side streets into "the crossroads" over a sixty-year period, rebranding their town as the devil's territory and Johnson's chosen haunt, a mecca for blues tourism in the contemporary Delta.Less
This book explores the role played by the devil figure within an evolving blues tradition. It pays particular attention to the lyrics of recorded blues songs, but it also seeks to tell a story about blues-invested southern lives. The first four chapters investigate, in sequence, the origins and meaning of the phrase "the devil's music" within black southern communities; the devil as a figure who empowers and haunts migrant black blueswomen in the urban North of the Jazz Age; the devil as a symbol of white maleficence and an icon for black southern bluesmen entrapped in the "hell" of the Jim Crow system; and the devil as shape-shifting troublemaker within blues songs lamenting failed romantic relationships. The fifth chapter is an extended meditation on the figure of Robert Johnson. It offers, in sequence, a new interpretation of Johnson's life and music under the sign of his mentor, Ike Zimmerman; a reading of Walter Hill's Crossroads (1986) that aligns the film with the racial anxieties of modern blues culture; and a narrative history detailing the way in which the townspeople of Clarksdale, Mississippi transformed a pair of unimportant side streets into "the crossroads" over a sixty-year period, rebranding their town as the devil's territory and Johnson's chosen haunt, a mecca for blues tourism in the contemporary Delta.
David Quint
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691161914
- eISBN:
- 9781400850488
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691161914.003.0002
- Subject:
- Literature, Criticism/Theory
This chapter shows how book 1 of Paradise Lost metaphorically depicts the role of the devil in raising the rebel angels out of their “bottomless perdition,” an act of poetic creation analogous to the ...
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This chapter shows how book 1 of Paradise Lost metaphorically depicts the role of the devil in raising the rebel angels out of their “bottomless perdition,” an act of poetic creation analogous to the divine creation of the universe described in the invocation—“how the heavens and earth/Rose out of chaos.” The chief devils described in the catalog that occupies the center of book 1 and organizes its poetic figures and symbolic geography—Carthage, Sodom, Egypt, Babel-Babylon, Rome—are precisely those who will come to inhabit the pagan shrines that human idolatry will build next to or even inside the Jerusalem temple, profaning God's house. This catalog—whose traditional epic function is to size up military force—instead suggests the force of spiritual falsehood, and it corresponds to the defeated devils' own reluctance to pursue another direct war against God; they would rather resort to satanic fraud.Less
This chapter shows how book 1 of Paradise Lost metaphorically depicts the role of the devil in raising the rebel angels out of their “bottomless perdition,” an act of poetic creation analogous to the divine creation of the universe described in the invocation—“how the heavens and earth/Rose out of chaos.” The chief devils described in the catalog that occupies the center of book 1 and organizes its poetic figures and symbolic geography—Carthage, Sodom, Egypt, Babel-Babylon, Rome—are precisely those who will come to inhabit the pagan shrines that human idolatry will build next to or even inside the Jerusalem temple, profaning God's house. This catalog—whose traditional epic function is to size up military force—instead suggests the force of spiritual falsehood, and it corresponds to the defeated devils' own reluctance to pursue another direct war against God; they would rather resort to satanic fraud.
Ray Zone
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780813124612
- eISBN:
- 9780813134796
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University Press of Kentucky
- DOI:
- 10.5810/kentucky/9780813124612.001.0001
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
Though it may come as a surprise to both cinema lovers and industry professionals who believe that 3-D film was born in the early 1950s, stereoscopic cinema actually began in 1838. It occurred more ...
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Though it may come as a surprise to both cinema lovers and industry professionals who believe that 3-D film was born in the early 1950s, stereoscopic cinema actually began in 1838. It occurred more than 100 years before the 3-D boom in Hollywood, which was created by the release of Arch Oboler's African adventure film, “Bwana Devil”. This book not only discusses technological innovation and its cultural context, but also examines the aesthetic aspects of stereoscopic cinema in its first century of production. It also writes a new chapter in the history of early cinema.Less
Though it may come as a surprise to both cinema lovers and industry professionals who believe that 3-D film was born in the early 1950s, stereoscopic cinema actually began in 1838. It occurred more than 100 years before the 3-D boom in Hollywood, which was created by the release of Arch Oboler's African adventure film, “Bwana Devil”. This book not only discusses technological innovation and its cultural context, but also examines the aesthetic aspects of stereoscopic cinema in its first century of production. It also writes a new chapter in the history of early cinema.
Crawford Gribben
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- May 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195326604
- eISBN:
- 9780199870257
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195326604.003.0002
- Subject:
- Religion, History of Christianity
This chapter provides a historicized survey of the eclectic roots of evangelical prophecy fiction. While fictional narratives have become the public face of evangelical faith, this chapter ...
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This chapter provides a historicized survey of the eclectic roots of evangelical prophecy fiction. While fictional narratives have become the public face of evangelical faith, this chapter demonstrates their late success. Throughout their history, evangelicals have traditionally suspected the morality of fictional narratives, and that suspicion was perhaps most obvious in fundamentalist and premillennial cultures in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries—in the very cultures from which Left Behind has emerged. This chapter surveys the sometimes surprising theological variety of early evangelical prophecy fiction, and charts its slow movement toward prophetic and other orthodoxies. The chapter develops on the basis of a close reading of two important early prophecy novels – Joseph Birkbeck Burroughs’s Titan (1905), and Milton Stine’s The Devil’s Bride (1910).Less
This chapter provides a historicized survey of the eclectic roots of evangelical prophecy fiction. While fictional narratives have become the public face of evangelical faith, this chapter demonstrates their late success. Throughout their history, evangelicals have traditionally suspected the morality of fictional narratives, and that suspicion was perhaps most obvious in fundamentalist and premillennial cultures in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries—in the very cultures from which Left Behind has emerged. This chapter surveys the sometimes surprising theological variety of early evangelical prophecy fiction, and charts its slow movement toward prophetic and other orthodoxies. The chapter develops on the basis of a close reading of two important early prophecy novels – Joseph Birkbeck Burroughs’s Titan (1905), and Milton Stine’s The Devil’s Bride (1910).
Robin Briggs
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780198225829
- eISBN:
- 9780191708947
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198225829.003.0006
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History
This chapter focuses on witchcraft beliefs. Topics covered include methods used to identify witches, strange creatures in witchcraft cases, cases of individuals terrified by a strange hostile ...
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This chapter focuses on witchcraft beliefs. Topics covered include methods used to identify witches, strange creatures in witchcraft cases, cases of individuals terrified by a strange hostile presence, seductions by the devil and in the sabbat, and dreams and fantasies.Less
This chapter focuses on witchcraft beliefs. Topics covered include methods used to identify witches, strange creatures in witchcraft cases, cases of individuals terrified by a strange hostile presence, seductions by the devil and in the sabbat, and dreams and fantasies.
Rebecca Krawiec
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780195129434
- eISBN:
- 9780199834396
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195129431.003.0006
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion in the Ancient World
Shenoute's goal for the monastery, including the female community, was to create one monastic experience for all monks “whether male or female.” His emphasis on uniformity was meant to preclude ...
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Shenoute's goal for the monastery, including the female community, was to create one monastic experience for all monks “whether male or female.” His emphasis on uniformity was meant to preclude difference, especially gender difference, even as his language continually reinscribed the categories of “male” and “female.” Three areas – corporal punishment, fasting, and teaching – show evidence of change within the female community as a result of Shenoute's insistence on uniform monastic practices. Yet, Shenoute also, perhaps unwittingly, created an asymmetrical monastic hierarchy where all monks were subordinate to Shenoute, but the female monks were also under the authority of male envoys (with the same monastic rank as the female leaders) who served as proxies for Shenoute. Gender also served as a structural basis of the community: both a physical boundary, evident in the women's seclusion and the prohibition on visits between male and female monks, including relatives, and a cultural boundary, reinforced by Shenoute's alignment of the women with susceptibility to the Devil, separated, and so created difference between the male and female communities.Less
Shenoute's goal for the monastery, including the female community, was to create one monastic experience for all monks “whether male or female.” His emphasis on uniformity was meant to preclude difference, especially gender difference, even as his language continually reinscribed the categories of “male” and “female.” Three areas – corporal punishment, fasting, and teaching – show evidence of change within the female community as a result of Shenoute's insistence on uniform monastic practices. Yet, Shenoute also, perhaps unwittingly, created an asymmetrical monastic hierarchy where all monks were subordinate to Shenoute, but the female monks were also under the authority of male envoys (with the same monastic rank as the female leaders) who served as proxies for Shenoute. Gender also served as a structural basis of the community: both a physical boundary, evident in the women's seclusion and the prohibition on visits between male and female monks, including relatives, and a cultural boundary, reinforced by Shenoute's alignment of the women with susceptibility to the Devil, separated, and so created difference between the male and female communities.
PETER MARSHALL
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780198207733
- eISBN:
- 9780191716812
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198207733.003.0007
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Early Modern History
This chapter sifts a mass of scattered evidence to elucidate official and popular belief about ghosts. Protestant authorities denounced belief in ghosts as a superstitious by-product of belief in ...
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This chapter sifts a mass of scattered evidence to elucidate official and popular belief about ghosts. Protestant authorities denounced belief in ghosts as a superstitious by-product of belief in purgatory, but had to account for the continuing propensity of people to see them after the Catholic teaching had been suppressed. They concluded that such apparitions were either frauds or delusions of the devil, though they might, just occasionally, be angels — a dilemma played out in Hamlet. At the level of popular belief, ghost stories evolved to take on aspects of the Protestant critique, but remained vibrantly traditional in other ways. The chapter demonstrates that even in condemning ghosts, educated writers were much influenced by popular assumptions, and that neither Catholic nor Protestant elites could resist deploying ghost stories for providential purposes.Less
This chapter sifts a mass of scattered evidence to elucidate official and popular belief about ghosts. Protestant authorities denounced belief in ghosts as a superstitious by-product of belief in purgatory, but had to account for the continuing propensity of people to see them after the Catholic teaching had been suppressed. They concluded that such apparitions were either frauds or delusions of the devil, though they might, just occasionally, be angels — a dilemma played out in Hamlet. At the level of popular belief, ghost stories evolved to take on aspects of the Protestant critique, but remained vibrantly traditional in other ways. The chapter demonstrates that even in condemning ghosts, educated writers were much influenced by popular assumptions, and that neither Catholic nor Protestant elites could resist deploying ghost stories for providential purposes.
Mary Orr
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- January 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780199258581
- eISBN:
- 9780191718083
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199258581.003.0007
- Subject:
- Literature, World Literature, 19th-century and Victorian Literature
Devil's rides into space are a well‐worked topos in literature, but this chapter points out for the first time their literal realities in the Montgolfier balloons and Garnarin's parachute that ...
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Devil's rides into space are a well‐worked topos in literature, but this chapter points out for the first time their literal realities in the Montgolfier balloons and Garnarin's parachute that constitute the 19th‐century ‘transports’ of Antoine's literary‐scientific imagination. The chapter then offers further appraisal of what the Devil ‘shows’ Antoine in space, namely (1) the (19th‐century) heliocentric solar system with the new planets, Uranus and Neptune discovered through understanding of gravitational pull, and (2) the huge literary‐scientific joke behind the Devil's transformations as the Norman mathematician Laplace's famous ‘demon’. The chapter ends by rethinking the genesis of the Tentation through the modern mystères of Le Poittevin's Bélial and Byron's Cain as among Flaubert's personal demons.Less
Devil's rides into space are a well‐worked topos in literature, but this chapter points out for the first time their literal realities in the Montgolfier balloons and Garnarin's parachute that constitute the 19th‐century ‘transports’ of Antoine's literary‐scientific imagination. The chapter then offers further appraisal of what the Devil ‘shows’ Antoine in space, namely (1) the (19th‐century) heliocentric solar system with the new planets, Uranus and Neptune discovered through understanding of gravitational pull, and (2) the huge literary‐scientific joke behind the Devil's transformations as the Norman mathematician Laplace's famous ‘demon’. The chapter ends by rethinking the genesis of the Tentation through the modern mystères of Le Poittevin's Bélial and Byron's Cain as among Flaubert's personal demons.
R. A. Houston
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- September 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199586424
- eISBN:
- 9780191595356
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199586424.003.0007
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Early Modern History, Cultural History
It is conventionally assumed that suicide became secularized in the eighteenth century as religious understandings gave way to medical ones. This chapter explains the origins of this assumption and ...
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It is conventionally assumed that suicide became secularized in the eighteenth century as religious understandings gave way to medical ones. This chapter explains the origins of this assumption and charts the hybrid of religious and secular understandings of suicide's causes that co‐existed throughout the early modern period. It shows how little the Devil mattered to Calvinists, who instead stressed the positive side of suicidal thoughts for salvation. The distinctively different intellectual approaches of English and Scottish thinkers are shown in both sermons and philosophical writings. Enlightenment arguments in favour of suicide were marginal to most understandings, which remained firmly grounded in Christian morality.Less
It is conventionally assumed that suicide became secularized in the eighteenth century as religious understandings gave way to medical ones. This chapter explains the origins of this assumption and charts the hybrid of religious and secular understandings of suicide's causes that co‐existed throughout the early modern period. It shows how little the Devil mattered to Calvinists, who instead stressed the positive side of suicidal thoughts for salvation. The distinctively different intellectual approaches of English and Scottish thinkers are shown in both sermons and philosophical writings. Enlightenment arguments in favour of suicide were marginal to most understandings, which remained firmly grounded in Christian morality.
Michael Ostling
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199587902
- eISBN:
- 9780191731228
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199587902.003.0010
- Subject:
- History, European Early Modern History, Social History
A tradition of Polish historiography sees the Polish devil as a comical figure of fun, in strong contrast to the terrifying Satan of western Christianity. While overdrawn, this tradition has a basis ...
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A tradition of Polish historiography sees the Polish devil as a comical figure of fun, in strong contrast to the terrifying Satan of western Christianity. While overdrawn, this tradition has a basis both in early modern literature and in later folklore: often by the word ‘devil’ Poles have meant beings such as house-elves, treasure-hauling demons, or the spirits of unbaptized infants. This is true in the witch-trials as well: the devils there described bear a resemblance to the familiars of English tradition. The chapter argues against too strong a causal role for the ‘mild’ Polish devil in ‘mild’ witch-trials, but also suggests that early modern Polish women could have dealings with ‘devils’ while remaining Christian, to their own satisfaction.Less
A tradition of Polish historiography sees the Polish devil as a comical figure of fun, in strong contrast to the terrifying Satan of western Christianity. While overdrawn, this tradition has a basis both in early modern literature and in later folklore: often by the word ‘devil’ Poles have meant beings such as house-elves, treasure-hauling demons, or the spirits of unbaptized infants. This is true in the witch-trials as well: the devils there described bear a resemblance to the familiars of English tradition. The chapter argues against too strong a causal role for the ‘mild’ Polish devil in ‘mild’ witch-trials, but also suggests that early modern Polish women could have dealings with ‘devils’ while remaining Christian, to their own satisfaction.
Patrick Hayes
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- September 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199587957
- eISBN:
- 9780191723292
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199587957.003.0007
- Subject:
- Literature, World Literature, 20th-century and Contemporary Literature
What, if anything, guarantees that literature is serious? How, for instance, can we be sure that the representation of the erotic in a work of literature offers us more than the kinds of ...
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What, if anything, guarantees that literature is serious? How, for instance, can we be sure that the representation of the erotic in a work of literature offers us more than the kinds of objectification that characterize pornography? Or that the representation of politics offers us more than a work of propaganda? This chapter argues that in his portrait of the artist Coetzee refuses to accept any account of literary seriousness grounded in notions of aesthetic distance, privileged relation to the truth, or access to higher values, and that his interest lies instead in portraying the literary as an equivocal and even marginal kind of discourse that emerges only in an unsettling way from a deeply compromised position of weakness. It shows that Coetzee's thinking on this subject is informed by a profound exploration of Dostoevsky's late fiction—in particular The Devils and The Brothers Karamazov.Less
What, if anything, guarantees that literature is serious? How, for instance, can we be sure that the representation of the erotic in a work of literature offers us more than the kinds of objectification that characterize pornography? Or that the representation of politics offers us more than a work of propaganda? This chapter argues that in his portrait of the artist Coetzee refuses to accept any account of literary seriousness grounded in notions of aesthetic distance, privileged relation to the truth, or access to higher values, and that his interest lies instead in portraying the literary as an equivocal and even marginal kind of discourse that emerges only in an unsettling way from a deeply compromised position of weakness. It shows that Coetzee's thinking on this subject is informed by a profound exploration of Dostoevsky's late fiction—in particular The Devils and The Brothers Karamazov.
Martin Wiggins
- Published in print:
- 1991
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198112280
- eISBN:
- 9780191670749
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198112280.003.0010
- Subject:
- Literature, Drama, 16th-century and Renaissance Literature
The Renaissance courts of John Webster's tragedies swarm with assassins. The plays depict a society in which aristocratic lust and honour pursues its intrigues through murder. Hired killers are the ...
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The Renaissance courts of John Webster's tragedies swarm with assassins. The plays depict a society in which aristocratic lust and honour pursues its intrigues through murder. Hired killers are the skilled technicians of such a society, the men who do the essential but dirty job of putting inconvenient people out of the way. Such men appear not only in a number of cameo parts, but also as major characters: Flamineo and Lodovico in The White Devil, and Daniel de Bosola in The Duchess of Malfi (1614). The critical fortunes of these figures have been variable. In recent decades, their importance has been rated very highly: in 1957, a case was even made for Bosola as the central tragic figure of The Duchess of Malfi. Yet only half a century before, E. E. Stoll dismissed the same character as an empty device. In several respects, Webster was influenced by recent trends in the portrayal of the assassin: Flamineo's poverty and Bosola's melancholy are standard traits of early Jacobean killers.Less
The Renaissance courts of John Webster's tragedies swarm with assassins. The plays depict a society in which aristocratic lust and honour pursues its intrigues through murder. Hired killers are the skilled technicians of such a society, the men who do the essential but dirty job of putting inconvenient people out of the way. Such men appear not only in a number of cameo parts, but also as major characters: Flamineo and Lodovico in The White Devil, and Daniel de Bosola in The Duchess of Malfi (1614). The critical fortunes of these figures have been variable. In recent decades, their importance has been rated very highly: in 1957, a case was even made for Bosola as the central tragic figure of The Duchess of Malfi. Yet only half a century before, E. E. Stoll dismissed the same character as an empty device. In several respects, Webster was influenced by recent trends in the portrayal of the assassin: Flamineo's poverty and Bosola's melancholy are standard traits of early Jacobean killers.
Tanya Pollard
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199270835
- eISBN:
- 9780191710322
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199270835.003.0002
- Subject:
- Literature, 16th-century and Renaissance Literature
This chapter examines depictions of dangerous doctors and medicines in plays by Jonson and Webster. It argues that Jonson draws on popular fears of drugs and poisons when he identifies cosmetics and ...
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This chapter examines depictions of dangerous doctors and medicines in plays by Jonson and Webster. It argues that Jonson draws on popular fears of drugs and poisons when he identifies cosmetics and medicines with dangerous forms of political and theatrical manipulation in Sejanus, and that Webster uses a similar strategy in The White Devil to link the seductive powers of Vittoria and Brachiano with various chemicals and poisons. While these two plays offer a sinister image of theatrical deception, however, Volpone uses a similar vocabulary to construct a more complex and variable model of theater’s physiological effects. Ultimately, Jonson suggests that the power of the theater can be harnessed to improve or cure spectators as well as to harm them.Less
This chapter examines depictions of dangerous doctors and medicines in plays by Jonson and Webster. It argues that Jonson draws on popular fears of drugs and poisons when he identifies cosmetics and medicines with dangerous forms of political and theatrical manipulation in Sejanus, and that Webster uses a similar strategy in The White Devil to link the seductive powers of Vittoria and Brachiano with various chemicals and poisons. While these two plays offer a sinister image of theatrical deception, however, Volpone uses a similar vocabulary to construct a more complex and variable model of theater’s physiological effects. Ultimately, Jonson suggests that the power of the theater can be harnessed to improve or cure spectators as well as to harm them.
Tanya Pollard
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199270835
- eISBN:
- 9780191710322
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199270835.003.0004
- Subject:
- Literature, 16th-century and Renaissance Literature
This chapter examines how depictions of poisonous cosmetics express early modern anxieties about the dangerous powers of seductive spectacles, with an emphasis on the theater. Understood in the early ...
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This chapter examines how depictions of poisonous cosmetics express early modern anxieties about the dangerous powers of seductive spectacles, with an emphasis on the theater. Understood in the early modern period as medicinal or restorative for women, cosmetics, based on substances such as mercury and arsenic, betrayed expectations by proving corrosive and harmful to their wearers. Taking as its starting point a fatal face-painting scene in The Devil’s Charter by Barnabe Barnes, the chapter explores representations of poisonous face-paints in plays, anti-cosmetic treatises, medical writings, and anti-theatrical diatribes. It goes on to demonstrate how this association worked to identify the theater as a seductive poison. Ultimately, it shows that the depictions of women suffering from poisonous face-paint offer a disturbingly literal image of the vulnerability of the body to the invasive force of spectacle.Less
This chapter examines how depictions of poisonous cosmetics express early modern anxieties about the dangerous powers of seductive spectacles, with an emphasis on the theater. Understood in the early modern period as medicinal or restorative for women, cosmetics, based on substances such as mercury and arsenic, betrayed expectations by proving corrosive and harmful to their wearers. Taking as its starting point a fatal face-painting scene in The Devil’s Charter by Barnabe Barnes, the chapter explores representations of poisonous face-paints in plays, anti-cosmetic treatises, medical writings, and anti-theatrical diatribes. It goes on to demonstrate how this association worked to identify the theater as a seductive poison. Ultimately, it shows that the depictions of women suffering from poisonous face-paint offer a disturbingly literal image of the vulnerability of the body to the invasive force of spectacle.
