The Romantic-era witch was a remarkably flexible symbol of political and social disorder. The then-recent seventeenth-century witch hunts had already revealed deep anxieties about the subversive potential of women, and the witches who stalk the pages of Gothic poetry and prose or glare menacingly from works of art by Henry Fuseli and William Blake embody revolutionary anger and the possibility of radical social transformation. Despite the fears surrounding such figures, however, the Romantic period also saw witchcraft open up in conceptually new ways, enabling writers and artists to envision alternative means of interacting in the world that were not predicated on the subordination of women and other marginalized groups. Here, Orianne Smith embarks on an interdisciplinary reimagining of witchcraft, women's writing, religion, and social reform, providing original insights on the history of witchcraft and its influence on public discourse, literature and art.
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Reveals the remarkable flexibility and power of the Romantic-era witch as a symbol of political and social disorder.
Introduction: witchcraft and revolution; Part I. Romanticism Bewitched:
1. Visualizing witchcraft;
2. Gothic witches;
3. Charlotte Smith and Maria
Edgeworth: gender and black magic;
4. The Shelleys on history and the female
demonic; Part II. Walter Scott Bewitched:
5. The Waverley Novels, demonology,
and 'The Wizard of the North';
6. Guy mannering: gender, magic, and
translation;
7. Specimens of female enthusiasm and witchcraft: the antiquary,
Ivanhoe, and the pirate;
8. The demonization of domesticity: Scott's The
Bride of Lammermoor and Baillie's witchcraft; Bibliography; Index.
Orianne Smith is Professor of English and Affiliate Professor of Gender and Women's Studies at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. Her first book, Romantic Women Writers, Revolution and Prophecy: Rebellious Daughters, 1786 1826 (2013, paperback 2015), also published in the Cambridge Studies in Romanticism series, received the British Association of Romantic Studies (BARS) Biennial First book Award in 2015.
