Broom, Broom: Writing about Witches from the London Review of Books

‘the witches eat your bookthen youthen everything’– Rebecca TamásWitches in history were usually poor, ill, weak and uneducated, yet they instilled fear in learned, highly placed men in churches and law courts, academies and council chambers. Witches in fairy tales are also poor, often old and ugly, yet they inspire delighted shivers of terror and a strong desire to emulate their witchy powers. The essays in this collection explores cases from Renaissance Germany to New England and South Africa as they puzzle over the contradictions of a desire to dismiss witches as foolish and deluded, while punishing them for the harm they are believed to be able to do: it’s a cruel paradox that the most dedicated believers in witchcraft were not the witches and their clients, but their persecutors. Throughout these rich essays, ‘never again’ whispers between the lines, but one can’t be sure.Featuring: John Bayley, Wendy Doniger, Malcolm Gaskill, Jeremy Harding, Hilary Mantel, Rosalind Mitchinson, Rebecca Tamás, Robert Tashman, Lee Palmer Wandel, Marina Warner and Leslie Wilson.