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 (...)
Mona Cholletis a Franco-Swiss writer and journalist. She is the chief editor
for Le Monde diplomatique and has also written for Charlie Hebdo . She is the
author of In Defense of Witches and several other books in French. She lives
in Paris, France.
St. Martin's Press
On Sale: Oct 3/23
5.38 x 8.25 • 320 pages
9781250894878 • $27.00 • pb
Social Science / Feminism & Feminist Theory