Book: Feminist Redemption Of The Witch Grimm And Michelet As 19 Century Models by Qinna Shen
This article will focus on the reconfigurations of the image of the witch in Jacob Grimm's Deutsche Mythologie (1835) as well as Jules Michelet's La Sorciere (1862). It begins with the discussion of the prevalent negative Perception of the witch during Jacob Grimm's lifetime in two iconic texts: Goethe's Faust and Jacob Grimm's own collection of Fairy Tales that he and his brother Wilhelm assembled. In light of his archival work in search of the German national past, Jacob Grimm arrived at a more sympathetic account of the witch. In Deutsche Mythologie, he asserts that the definition and perception of the witch has a history; it is the Christian church that created a witch-phobic culture and labeled non-Christian and un-Christian practices as devilserving witchcraft. The political agenda of Deutsche Mythologie is in keeping with the Romantic nationalist sentiment. To enhance the cohesiveness of the German people, to generate the feeling of Germans as one nation and thus to facilitate political unification of the German principalities, Grimm foregrounds a shared German culture, language and identity through Reclaiming pre-Christian tradition and primitive German religion. Second, the article analyzes Jacob Grimm's influence on Jules Michelet's La Sorciere, and outlines Michelet's atypical 19th-century anti-clerical and anti-medieval attitude that reflects the author's nationalist fervor. Lastly, the article ends with Michelet's influence on feminists who embrace the emblematic subversiveness that the witch brings with her.Free eBooks (Can Be Downloaded):
Stephanie Du Barry - Witches An Extraordinary Expression Of Misogyny In The 16th And 17th CenturiesMarc Aronson - Witch Hunt Mysteries Of The Salem Witch Trials Study Guide
Kathryn Rountree - Embracing The Witch And The Goddess
Qinna Shen - Feminist Redemption Of The Witch Grimm And Michelet As 19 Century Models
