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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... symbolic of the rite of passage from death to rebirth. The Jonah story thus may disguise the initiation ritual of an ancient mystery religion. In the theatrical context of fifteenth-century Florence, there is among the sacre ...
... symbolism can sometimes go awry, as in the case of Christian Ophites, who claimed Moses as the founder of their tradition and worshiped his brass saraph strung on a tau cross, both in itself and as a manifestation of Christ-Ophion. So ...
... symbolic act could not eradicate ancient superstitions. Credence was still given to the belief that many of the mythic beings of old were unspeakable monsters and deities who devoured sinful humans. Christianity affixed all such ...
... symbolism of alchemical and cabalistic practices in the Middle Ages or even through the diffusion of such Oriental tales as those Scheherezade told her sultan. Whatever the provenance, the theme of the whale-dragonserpent that swallowed ...
... symbolism of this tale is taken up by Christ as precursory of his own fate when he says: “For as Jonah was three days and ... symbolic rather than literal. Rahab is also mentioned in Job 9:13. 4. The name Nehushtan comes from the Hebrew ...
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 | |