Mona Chollet's In Defense of Witches is a "brilliant,
well-documented" celebration (Le Monde) by an acclaimed French
feminist of the witch as a symbol of female rebellion and
independence in the face of misogyny and persecution.
Centuries after the
infamous witch hunts that swept through Europe and America, witches
continue to hold a unique fascination for many: as fairy tale
villains, practitioners of pagan religion, as well as feminist icons.
Witches are both the ultimate victim and the stubborn, elusive rebel.
But who were the women who were accused and often killed for
witchcraft? What types of women have centuries of terror censored,
eliminated, and repressed?
Celebrated feminist
writer Mona Chollet explores three types of women who were accused of
witchcraft and persecuted: the independent woman, since widows and
celibates were particularly targeted; the childless woman, since the
time of the hunts marked the end of tolerance for those who claimed
to control their fertility; and the elderly woman, who has always
been an object of at best, pity, and at worst, horror. Examining
modern society, Chollet concludes that these women continue to be
harrassed and oppressed. Rather than being a brief moment in history,
the persecution of witches is an example of society's seemingly
eternal misogyny, while women today are direct heirs to those who
were hunted down and killed for their thoughts and actions.
With fiery prose and
arguments that range from the scholarly to the cultural, In
Defense of Witches seeks to unite the mythic image of the witch
with modern women who seek to live their lives on their own terms.