1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910819243103321

Autore

Kallendorf Hilaire <1974->

Titolo

Exorcism and its texts : subjectivity in early modern literature of England and Spain / / Hilaire Kallendorf

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Toronto, [Ontario] ; ; Buffalo, [New York] ; ; London [England] : , : University of Toronto Press, , 2003

©2003

ISBN

1-4875-8677-9

1-281-99471-5

9786611994716

1-4426-7472-5

Edizione

[2nd ed.]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource : illustrations

Collana

University of Toronto Romance Series

Disciplina

820.937

Soggetti

English literature - Early modern, 1500-1700 - History and criticism

Exorcism in literature

Spanish literature - Classical period, 1500-1700 - History and criticism

Comparative literature - English and Spanish

Comparative literature - Spanish and English

Christianity and literature - England

Christianity and literature - Spain

Demoniac possession in literature

Subjectivity in literature

Human body in literature

Criticism, interpretation, etc.

Electronic books.

Spanisch

Englisch

Spain

England

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Prologue--A Force Within: The Importance of Demonic Possession for



Early Modern Studies -- A Paradigm of Theologemes for Literary Exorcism -- Introduction: The Morphology of Exorcism, or a Grammar of Possession in Spanish and English Literature, 1550-1700 -- Demoniacs in the Drama: Theatricalities of Comic Possession and the Exorcism of the Body Politic -- The Demon Enters the Body: Alonso de la Vega's La duquesa de la rosa -- Symptoms of Possession: Jonson's The Devil is an Ass -- Demonic Polyglossia: Ruggle's Ignoramus -- The Coach: Jonson's Volpone -- The Exorcist: Shakespeare's Twelfth Night -- The Lovers' Ruse: The Bugbears -- The (Mock) Exorcism: Shakespeare's Comedy of Errors -- Binding the Body: Timoneda's Los menemnos -- Relics, Holy Water, and Other Props: Shadwell's The Lancashire Witches -- The Successful Exorcism: El pleyto que tuvo el diablo -- Exorcizing the Body Politic: Zamora's El hechizado por fuerza and Middleton's The Phoenix -- Possessed Picaros and Satanic Satire -- An Erasmian View of Lazarillo's Fifth Tratado -- Another Picaro and Another Alguacil endemoniado: Quevedo's Buscon, Suenos, Satirical Poetry, and La endemoniada fingida -- Alguacil endemoniado or Demonio alguacilado? -- 'The Experienced Mysteries of Damnation' -- 'Da ... al discurso miedo': The Printing of Forbidden Knowledge -- 'Libido sciendi' -- Romance, the Interlude, and Hagiographical Drama: The Humanization of Possession and Exorcism -- Romance, the Interlude, and the Restoration of Order: Cervantes' Persiles and Lope's La endemoniada.

Sommario/riassunto

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.