Aldous Huxley’s work, describing and reflecting on a case of demonic possession in seventeenth century France, was published on October 1st, 1952. A similar admonitory response to another historical instance of extreme beliefs cruelly enforced against all reasonable likelihood followed it in January 1953, with the first performance of Arthur Miller’s
The Crucible. Huxley repeatedly comments on evil done in the 20th century, set against what in the end he calls the relatively “minor horrors” perpetrated in Loudun (p.348, Chapter 11). The historian Michel de Certeau, noting the wider use made of the European witch panic by modern writers, comments appositely that “Yesterday’s antagonists, mobilised by the participants in more recent conflicts, offer the latter a means of…
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Citation: Booth, Roy. "The Devils of Loudon". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 21 November 2019 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=1076, accessed 22 November 2024.]
