Research Catalog
Salem story : reading the witch trials of 1692 / Bernard Rosenthal.
- Title
- Salem story : reading the witch trials of 1692 / Bernard Rosenthal.
- Author
- Rosenthal, Bernard, 1934-
- Publication
- Cambridge [England] ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 1993.
Items in the Library & Off-site
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1 Item
| Status | Format | Access | Call Number | Item Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Text | Request in advance | BF 1576 .R67 1993 | Off-site |
Details
- Description
- xi, 286 p.; 23 cm.
- Summary
- Salem Story engages the story of the Salem witch trials by contrasting an analysis of the surviving primary documentation with the way the events of 1692 have been mythologized by our culture. Resisting the temptation to explain the Salem witch trials in the context of an inclusive theoretical framework, the book examines a variety of individual motives that converged to precipitate the witchhunt. Salem Story also examines subsequent mythologizations, such as the scapegoating of the slave Tituba, the sexualizing and age stereotyping of "witches" in popular culture, and attempts to force interpretations of the witch-hunt into paradigms of future generations.
- Of the many assumptions about the Salem witch trials, the most persistent is that they were instigated by a circle of hysterical girls. Through an analysis of what actually happened - by perusal of the primary materials with the "close reading" approach of a literary critic - a different picture emerges, one where "hysteria" inappropriately describes the logical, rational strategies of accusation and confession followed by the accusers, males and females alike.
- Series Statement
- Cambridge studies in American literature and culture ; 73
- Uniform Title
- Cambridge studies in American literature and culture 73.
- Subjects
- Genre/Form
- Church history
- Bibliography (note)
- Includes bibliographical references (p. 221-265) and index.
- Processing Action (note)
- committed to retain
- Contents
- 1. Dark Eve -- 2. The girls of Salem -- 3. Boys and girls together -- 4. June 10, 1692 -- 5. July 19, 1692 -- 6. August 19, 1692 -- 7. George Burroughs and the Mathers -- 8. September 22, 1692 -- 9. Assessing an inextricable storm -- 10. Salem story -- Appendix: Letter of William Phips to George Corwin, April 26, 1693.
- ISBN
- 0521440610 (hardback)
- 0521558204 (pbk.)
- LCCN
- ^^^93000609^
- OCLC
- 27768626
- SCSB-10343332
- Owning Institutions
- Harvard Library