The Possession at Loudun

Resumen del libro

It is August 18, 1634. Father Urbain Grandier, convicted of sorcery that led to the demonic possession of the Ursuline nuns of provincial Loudun in France, confesses his sins on the porch of the church of Saint-Pierre, then perishes in flames lit by his own exorcists. A dramatic tale that has inspired many artistic retellings, including a novel by Aldous Huxley and in incendiary film by Ken Russell, the story of the possession at Loudun here receives a compelling analysis from the renowned Jesuit historian Michel de Certeau.

Interweaving substantial excerpts from primary historical documents with fascinating commentary, de Certeau shows how the plague of sorceries and possessions in France that climaxed in the events at Loudun both revealed the deepest fears of a society in traumatic flux and accelerated its transformation. In this tour de force of psychological history, de Certeau brings to vivid life a people torn between the decline of centralized religious authority and the rise of science and reason, wracked by violent anxiety over what or whom to believe.

Biografía del autor

Fue un pensador en permanente diálogo con las principales corrientes de las ciencias humanas y sociales de la segunda mitad del siglo xx. Lector incansable, combinó intereses intelectuales y relaciones personales aparentemente inconciliables. Jesuita, fundó la École Freudiennede Paris junto a Jacques Lacan, analizó como nadie la eclosión de Mayo de 1968 y se ha convertido en un autor imprescindible para entender la mística de los siglos XVI y XVII y en una de las referencias principales de los estudios culturales.