Stages of Evil: Occultism in Western Theater and DramaUniversity Press of Kentucky, 2005 M12 23 - 344 pages "The evil that men do" has been chronicled for thousands of years on the European stage, and perhaps nowhere else is human fear of our own evil more detailed than in its personifications in theater. Early writers used theater to communicate human experiences and to display reverence for the gods governing daily life. Playwrights from Euripides onward sought inspiration from this interplay between the worldly and the occult, using human belief in the divine to govern characters' actions within a dramatic arena. The constant adherence to the supernatural, despite changing religious ideologies over the centuries, testifies to a deep and continuing belief in the ability of a higher power to interfere in human life. Stages of Evil is the first book to examine the representation and relationship of evil and the occult from the prehistoric origins of drama through to the present day. Drawing on examples of magic, astronomy, demonology, possession, exorcism, fairies, vampires, witchcraft, hauntings, and voodoo, author Robert Lima explores how theater shaped American and European perceptions of the occult and how the dramatic works studied here reflect society back upon itself at different points in history. From representations of Dionysian rites in ancient Greece, to the Mouth of Hell in the Middle Ages, to the mystical cabalistic life of the Hasidic Jews, to the witchcraft and magic of the Elizabethan and Jacobean stage, Lima traces the recurrence of supernatural motifs in pivotal plays and performance works of the Western tradition. Considering numerous myths and cultural artifacts, such as the "wild man," he describes the evolution and continual representation of supernatural archetypes on the modern stage. He also discusses the sociohistorical implications of Christian and pagan representations of evil and the theatrical creativity that occultism has engendered. Delving into his own theatrical, literary, folkloric, and travel experiences to enhance his observations, Lima assays the complex world of occultism and examines diverse works of Western theater and drama. A unique and comprehensive bibliography of European and American plays concludes the study and facilitates further research into the realm of the social and literary impact of the occult. |
From inside the book
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... origin. It can be traced most effectively to the growing infiltration of Christianity by the plethora of superstitious beliefs that had come together in the Roman Empire, among them some from ancient Greece, themselves derivative from ...
... origin in the ancient belief systems of Near and Far Eastern peoples was taken up by medieval Christianity in its religious tracts, church decor, and pageant wagons with unparalleled religious fervor. NOTES I am indebted to the late ...
... origin of Harlequin is demonic and lies within the dark recesses of antiquity. Mercury's words may be ironic in that a pagan deity damns the players to hell, but the anonymous dramatist is, after all, addressing a Christian audience ...
... origin, name, manner, costume, and mien. The Italian Arlecchino had existed in other guises and functioned in other venues long before he became the dominant male figure on the stage of the European Renaissance. In previous antique ...
... origin, the first of the two veins, Arlecchino is seen to derive from a daemon, named Hellequin first and then Herlequin, out of old French (Boulogne) folklore, who becomes manifest in literary texts in the thirteenth century. But this ...
Contents
Touchstone of Celestinas Magic | |
Possession and Exorcism | |
Voodoo Terror in Eugene ONeills | |
Sex as Grimoire in Arthur Millers The Crucible | |
The Politics of Demonic Hysteria in John | |
Malign Decadence in Francisco Nievas | |
Cauldron and Cave | |
Chthonic Sanctuaries in Early | |
Bibliography of European and American Drama of | |
Index | |