Shakespeare's Demonology: A Dictionary

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This volume in the long-running and acclaimed Shakespeare Dictionary series is a detailed, critical reference work examining all aspects of magic, good and evil, across Shakespeare's works. Topics covered include the representation of fairies, witches, ghosts, devils and spirits.

Reviews

The authors show passionate attention to Shakespeare's language, a sound grasp of the historical and social background, and devoted bibliographical trawling... This is a delightful and useful volume; in every case the authors discuss the critical literature, provide helpful comment, and supply a splendid, though necessarily selective, bibliography. -- Marina Warner CBE, Fellow of University of Oxford, UK * Around The Globe *
Modeled on both demonologies and demonological thinking of the time, and in the context of the Bard's canon, this dictionary examines many aspects of magic and the ways in which these aspects informed Shakespeare's images, characterizations, and plots, creating "an entire genre in its own right, with its own politics and rules." Varying in length and alphabetically organized, the comprehensive, informative entries define the terms and offer multiple synonyms in see also references. A comprehensive bibliography and detailed index complete the book, which should interest any reader, scholar, or teacher of Shakespeare. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Lower-level undergraduates through researchers/faculty. -- P. Kujoory, Collin College * CHOICE *
It is a work that will be of great use to scholars of the sixteenth century English culture and of demonology. * Bruniana & Campanelliana (Bloomsbury Translation) *

Author Bio

Marion Gibson is Senior Lecturer in English at the University of Exeter, UK. Her publications include Reading Witchcraft (1999), Possession, Puritanism and Print (2006) and Witchcraft Myths in American Culture (2007). Jo Ann Esra is a Doctoral student at the University of Exeter.