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  1. Home
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  3. Salem Story
  • Cited by 29
Publisher:
Cambridge University Press
Online publication date:
January 2010
Print publication year:
1993
Online ISBN:
9780511519352
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511519352
Series:
Cambridge Studies in American Literature and Culture (73)
Subjects:
Literature, Area Studies, American Literature, American Studies, Literary Theory, History, Colonial American History
Information

Book description

Salem Story engages the story of the Salem witch trials by contrasting an analysis of the surviving primary documentation with the way events of 1692 have been mythologised by our culture. Resisting the temptation to explain the Salem witch trials in the context of an inclusive theoretical framework, the book examines a variety of individual motives that converged to precipitate the witch-hunt. Of the many assumptions about the Salem witch trials, the most persistent is that they were instigated by a circle of hysterical girls. Through an analysis of what actually happened - by perusal of the primary materials with the 'close reading' approach of a literary critic - a different picture emerges, one where 'hysteria' inappropriately describes the logical, rational strategies of accusation and confession followed by the accusers, males and females alike.

Reviews

‘The author’s reflections on Salem’s continuing symbolic resonance, make Salem Story thoroughly rewarding’.

Source: The Times Literary Supplement

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