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Alchemist, v. 2, issue 1, Autumn 1946
Page 37
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must weigh the evidence and select a theory according to his own temperament. Be that as it may, Wickwar's study is one of the most witty and entertaining of them all, and if Mr. Wickwar's work is at fault in finding humorous in a situation which was never that to the people involved, he is at least more readable than many of the solemn owls who have dealt with this material. A more sombre treatment is obtainable in Michelet's "La Sorciere" (Paris, 1878) available in translation from the Walden Book Company under the title "Satanism and Witchcraft". A very different picture this, from Wickwar's quasi comedy. We find the witch depicted as a tragic and terrifying figure against a nightmare backdrop of medieval and renaissance cruelty and horror. Michelet's style, even in translation, tens toward hysterical rhapsody, and the subject is well-suited to his pen. The work is scholarly and in the main logical, after its own perculiar fashion, amassing a wealth of significant descriptive detail about typical incidents of the period with hair-raising effect. The result is both convincing and depressing, leaving the reader with a hideous conviction of the innate cruelty and viciousness of man kind. Though marred by excessively romantic treatment and occasional boresome discursiveness, this work can be highly recommended. An excellent general view of the Black Arts and their practitioners may be had from "Witches and Warlocks" by Philip W. Sergeant (Hutchinson, London, 1936), which is very well done within the limits
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must weigh the evidence and select a theory according to his own temperament. Be that as it may, Wickwar's study is one of the most witty and entertaining of them all, and if Mr. Wickwar's work is at fault in finding humorous in a situation which was never that to the people involved, he is at least more readable than many of the solemn owls who have dealt with this material. A more sombre treatment is obtainable in Michelet's "La Sorciere" (Paris, 1878) available in translation from the Walden Book Company under the title "Satanism and Witchcraft". A very different picture this, from Wickwar's quasi comedy. We find the witch depicted as a tragic and terrifying figure against a nightmare backdrop of medieval and renaissance cruelty and horror. Michelet's style, even in translation, tens toward hysterical rhapsody, and the subject is well-suited to his pen. The work is scholarly and in the main logical, after its own perculiar fashion, amassing a wealth of significant descriptive detail about typical incidents of the period with hair-raising effect. The result is both convincing and depressing, leaving the reader with a hideous conviction of the innate cruelty and viciousness of man kind. Though marred by excessively romantic treatment and occasional boresome discursiveness, this work can be highly recommended. An excellent general view of the Black Arts and their practitioners may be had from "Witches and Warlocks" by Philip W. Sergeant (Hutchinson, London, 1936), which is very well done within the limits
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