The Superstitious Mind

The Superstitious Mind
Author: Judith Devlin
Publisher: Yale University Press
Total Pages: 340
Release: 1987-01-01
Genre: Body, Mind & Spirit
ISBN: 0300037104

This intriguing book examines popular religion, traditional medicine, witchcraft, apparitions, demonology, and magic in nineteenth-century rural France. Devlin demonstrates that many of the impulses and mental processes now considered superstitious constituted a wholly reasonable response to the pressures of a harsh and impoverished life. Far from the product of a primitive mentality, many of these beliefs have survived in modern culture and can even illuminate the nature of modern mass politics.

The Witch in the Broom Cupboard and Other Tales

The Witch in the Broom Cupboard and Other Tales
Author: Pierre Gripari
Publisher: Pushkin Children's Books
Total Pages: 145
Release: 2015-09-01
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 1782690662

Absurd fairy tales, very sensibly told There once was a good little devil - did you read that right? Yes you did: not a wicked little devil but a good one, and boy, was he in a fix! Instead of doing bad things like forgetting his homework and playing tricks on his teachers, this little devil kept trying to be good. He did all his homework - and sometimes enjoyed it! He was never rude and he even encouraged sinners to say sorry. His parents were at their wits' end. So the little devil struck out on his own. On his quest to learn to be good, our little devil meets all kinds of people, from priests to police and from the Pope in Rome to Little Jesus himself. But will the angels let a little red devil with black horns into Heaven? In these thirteen tales, clever young people find nifty ways to overcome greedy kings, wicked witches, unlucky spells and even silly names. And there's a big dash of magic to help them on the way! In these tales, the giants, witches and mermaids of traditional fairy tales leap from the page, animated by a very modern spirit. Blessed with a healthy disrespect for authority, the author took great pleasure in upsetting the natural order of the fantastic.