Conjure Wife

Apr 09, 2012 Leah rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Rating: 3.5 of 5

Everyone knows the saying, "Behind every great man, there's a great woman." Well, in Conjure Wife, the great woman is a witch, and her great man doesn't know that. And it's worldwide: all women are witches, and they either know of or practice witchcraft.

Here's the gist:

One day, feeling good and taking a moment to reflect on his life, Norman Saylor, a professor of sociology at Hempnell College, begins to ponder his successes, one of which he considers his wife, Tansy. How did I ge...more

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Sep 07, 2010 Mike (the Paladin) rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, urban-fantasy

This was an interesting and attention holding book, with a strange little "hook". The idea here is that "all women" are really part of a worldwide (seemingly)sorority. They're all witches.

A little disturbing for a guy to read....

However I liked it quite a lot. It caused me to read Our Lady of Darkness...a more complex book , but with an inferior story I believe. This one is just better "story-telling".

I found the story catching me quickly and pulling me along toward the climax. Imaginative and a...more

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May 04, 2013 Rob Errera rated it 3 of 5 stars

It’s a horror classic, so I wanted/needed to read it.

Fritz Leiber’s Conjure Wife is listed on every “Masterpieces of Classic Horror” list out there, so I was eager to experience it myself for the first time.

But this tale of witchcraft in the world of academia left me with some unsettling questions, like, “What woman in Fritz Leiber’s life damaged him to the point he would write such a weird, misogynistic tale?”

Serialized in 1940 pulp magazines, and released as a novel in 1953, Conjure Wife‘s pre...more

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Nov 04, 2012 Kathy rated it 3 of 5 stars

I read this recently because I saw SO MANY recommendations for it in various "Lists of Recommended Horror". To me...it was just...okay. I didn't think it was all that scary. This is the only full-length novel by Lieber that I've read, but I've read a fair amount of his short fiction. I think the short work is scarier. Read no further unless you want a partial plot give-away....I think that the reader was supposed to be terrified by the gargoyle statue that kept appearing in odd places. At one po...more

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Oct 27, 2012 Nomad rated it 4 of 5 stars

This was a buddy read for the Classic Horror Lovers group, and it was a great pick on the moderators parts. The book was written in the late 1940's and as such, like most classic horror, has a very different feel to it than later day modern horror. Here the focus is on the creepy and chilling atmosphere of the tale versus blood and gore.

This tale is set on a New England small college campus. A very conservative one that is buccolic at the same time. Norman Saylor and his wife Tansy are young, up...more

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Oct 22, 2012 Lisa (Harmonybites) rated it 4 of 5 stars

Recommended to Lisa (Harmonybites) by: A Reader's Guide to Fantasy

Shelves: fantasy, fiction, horror, novels

Published in 1943, this doesn't read as dated as much as true to it's period, but with delicious hints of subversion here and there. The conceit of the story is that all women are witches--men just don't know it--and are constantly engaged in covert sorcerous warfare to protect or promote their men. And it has perhaps the perfect setting and point of view for this pre-Feminist Mystique horror tale. Norman Saylor, smug, self-satisfied Norman, professor of anthropology and sociology at Hempnell Co...more

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Oct 17, 2012 Lady Danielle aka The Book Huntress rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: classic horror readers, those interested in women issues in speculative fiction

Shelves: 1940s, school-days, october-scare-fest-2012, nerd-prof-scientist-genius-geek, wicked-witch, witch-sorcereress-healer, married-protagonists, women-s-issues, magic, psychological-horror, classic-horror-lovers-group-read, classic-horror, horror

I read this out of the Dark Ladies: Conjure Wife/Our Lady of Darkness duology, but I wanted to jot down my thoughts separately for this one before I finish the volume.

I found the writing clever. I was transplanted into the cutthroat world of college politics. Who knew that the wives could be just as fierce as their faculty husbands? And that they would resort to sorcery and witchcraft to keep their husbands (and themselves by relation) in power? Things get pretty nasty!

I think that there is some...more I read this out of the Dark Ladies: Conjure Wife/Our Lady of Darkness duology, but I wanted to jot down my thoughts separately for this one before I finish the volume.

I found the writing clever. I was transplanted into the cutthroat world of college politics. Who knew that the wives could be just as fierce as their faculty husbands? And that they would resort to sorcery and witchcraft to keep their husbands (and themselves by relation) in power? Things get pretty nasty!

I think that there is some very interesting commentary about male and female relationships here. That old Venus Versus Mars argument. I felt at first that Norman was a rampant sexist (in a way that is very common even today). He had a superior attitude towards his wife, while simultaneously being in awe of her at the same time. He seemed to view her as an alien creature, constantly analyzing the way her mind worked, as if it was so different from his. I liked how his feelings of mental superiority over her backfired when he realized that she was in fact the one who was right about what was really going on, and how he had to rely on her knowledge of the situation. I liked how things turned around and it was clear how much he did care for his wife. How he fought for her well-being, willingly putting aside his hard-headed scientific skeptical thought processes to save her.

I feel that there is a heavy tone of satire cleverly mixed in with well-executed psychological horror. Norman's internal dialogue engenders a tone that is analytical and observational (although he doesn't seem to be as observant as one would think for a sociologist), wry and sarcastic at other times and quite laden with a menace that sneaks up on the reader. At first, I found him to be a bit of a pompous twit. I admit I can't stand when men treat women like their brains and mental capacities are limited. But I couldn't stay angry at him. He learned the hard way not to underestimate women, particularly his own wife. I think in this, Leiber is making a point. For all the men did have a tendency to view their spouses through a skewed lens, not realizing just how much power the women truly had in their lives and over them. Leiber seems to throw sexist ideas out with a wink and a nod, as if he expects the readers to reject those thoughts, or perhaps to poke fun at those who believe what he's saying. My take, anyway.

I wonder what the reception was to this book in the 1940s. The ideas of male/female relations are probing and insightful in a way that seems a bit subversive. But what do I know? At any rate, I liked this story very much. It's beautifully subtle in the slow building of menace and fear, and the ideas about society seem to be relevant today in how men and women and spouses relate to and view each other. Also it speaks to the often venomous way that women can sometimes turn against each other, belying what some (including myself) naively believe about the sisterhood of women. On the horror level, the truly heinous and scary nature of witchcraft used as a tool for power and control is enough to send a shiver down my spine. It makes you wonder just how much witchcraft may be going on behind the scenes today.

Overall rating: 4.25/5.0 stars.(less)

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Jul 21, 2012 Charles Dee Mitchell rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: horror

Before I knew any better, I assumed that Fritz Leiber's Conjure Wife was the basis for Rene Clair's film I Married a Witch. But no. Clair's 1942 film is based on Thorne Smith's The Passionate Witch, published posthumously in 1941. Leiber's novel came out in 1943 and therefore is neither the source of Clair's classic film or, by extension, the long-running 1960's sitcom Bewitched. I could apply the "classic:" modifier to the TV program as well, but it would only prove how pliable a term "classic"...more

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Jun 08, 2011 Carolina Dean rated it 4 of 5 stars

Considered a modern horror story for it's time, Conjure Wife reinvents the 'witch' as well educated women far removed from the green-skinned, hag of our collective imagination and allows her story to unfold on a modern university campus. The action begins fairly early in the book when Norman Saylor, a professor of ethnology, discovers his wife Tansy has put his research into "Negro Conjure Magic" into practice for the sake of protecting him from other spell casting faculty wives who wish to furt...more Considered a modern horror story for it's time, Conjure Wife reinvents the 'witch' as well educated women far removed from the green-skinned, hag of our collective imagination and allows her story to unfold on a modern university campus. The action begins fairly early in the book when Norman Saylor, a professor of ethnology, discovers his wife Tansy has put his research into "Negro Conjure Magic" into practice for the sake of protecting him from other spell casting faculty wives who wish to further their own husbands careers and with that their own social standing.

Being a rational man of science Norman has only an academic interest in the subject of magic and superstition and he forces Tansy to cease all her workings and to burn all her charms which mostly take the form of mojo bags (called hands in the book)--with the exception of her diary which contains her formulas for How to Make Wishes Work, How To Get and Guard, to Spell and to Hex. No sooner does Norman burn the last charm hidden in his pocket watch, which Tansy either purposely or accidentally forgot was there, do things start to fall apart. A former student accuses Norman of railroading him into failing out of school and threatens him with a gun, his student-secretary accuses him of having seduced her, and he is passed over for a promotion that had seemed guaranteed.
Norman then begins to have more than his fair share of small accidents such as cutting himself while shaving, stepping on carpet tacks, cutting his hand with a letter opener, etc... and he begins to imagine that he senses a dark presence which exploits his fear of trucks. A bad situation becomes even worse when Tansy takes his curse upon herself and he is forced to put aside his disbelief and use witchcraft to save not only his wife's soul, but her body as well in an delightfully unexpected twist reminiscent of The Skeleton Key (2005).

Although Conjure Wife is a horror novel, it's subject matter is treated seriously. The witches are portrayed as 'normal' women with clearly understandable motivations. The witchcraft portrayed in the novel is derived from Southern Folk Magic (Hoodoo). Very early in the book Norman discovers Tansy's boxes of silver dimes, lodestones, and several bottles of graveyard dirt, and squares of flannel for making her 'hands'. The practices portrayed in this work are authentic, however the author did little to describe the actual use of these items within the story, save for a few workings. Most of the action is internal as Norman attempts to convince himself that the events occurring around him are coincidental as slowly begins to believe that magic is real and all women are witches!

The book has spawned three movie adaptations Burn, Witch Burn (1962); Weird Woman (1944); and Witch's Brew(1980). Although each movie is based on this novel, each one has changed it's portrayal how witchcraft (not Wicca) is practiced. None of the movies portrays witchcraft as it is actually practiced, however neither does all the practices in Conjure Wife reflect actual practices.

Overall I found it a very enjoyable read that was over too quickly. (less)

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Dec 11, 2009 BarkLessWagMore rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: horror

When Norman Saylor discovers that his wife Tansy has been dabbling in witchcraft he demands that she cease all witchy activity and then demands that she remove all of her protective spells placed upon their home.

This is a mistake Norman will soon live to regret as his comfortable life begins to unravel. See, it seems that Tansy wasn’t the only one practicing witchcraft and the grasping wives of Norman’s colleagues at the college have been practicing as well. Now, what with the protections ceasin...more

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Jul 01, 2009 hythlae rated it 5 of 5 stars

Could not put this book down: it's an absolutely enthralling example of 1950s literary attempts to merge science and the paranormal. Right in line with the books Stir of Echoes and The Haunting of Hill House: dark, creepy, exciting, unorthodox, satisfying, short and simple. From my own study of HooDoo, quite well researched. Like those books, it also contains fascinating gender politics.

Favorite paragraph:

Then, in one instant of diabolic, paralyzing insight,he knew that this was sorcery. No mer

...more

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May 08, 2012 aPriL MEOWS often with scratching rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: horror, paranormal

The exchanging of souls the way 'Desperate Housewives' swap lovers made this slightly outdated, mild horror story some fun to read. However, more current movies such as 'The Three Witches of Eastwick' somewhat overwhelm the smaller charms of this period piece about academic wives who practice witchcraft against each other and their respective husbands in order to damage the competition and get promotions for their husbands. Or do they? Unfortunately, the story feels a bit weakened by throwing in...more

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Mar 29, 2012 Chris rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: horror, 2012-reads

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I choose to describe Conjure Wife as a cautionary tale and parable about how closed mindedness, sexism and arrogance (in this case in 1950's academia) can damage those that we love. Norman, a sociology professor at a small, second tier university, is quite full of himself. He describes his wife as "his most prized possession" and, for reasons that are unclear, has chosen to snoop on her and look through her closet and private possessions. As a result, he discovers that his wife is in actuality a...more I choose to describe Conjure Wife as a cautionary tale and parable about how closed mindedness, sexism and arrogance (in this case in 1950's academia) can damage those that we love. Norman, a sociology professor at a small, second tier university, is quite full of himself. He describes his wife as "his most prized possession" and, for reasons that are unclear, has chosen to snoop on her and look through her closet and private possessions. As a result, he discovers that his wife is in actuality a practicing witch, and a good one at that. Being the modern scientist and responsible for his wife's well-being (as he sees it) he immediately must sit her down and didactically enlighten his wife, who he clearly considers to be child-like and in need of his guidance. The extended scene in which he describes his patient attempts to help her make the logical steps to "realize" that witchcraft is just a delusion of less advanced societies is nauseating in its paternalism and condescension. She finally agrees to throw it all away. He is finally convinced that he has helped his wife Tansy mature and that this dabbling in primitive customs is behind them. The problem is that the witchcraft is very real and so is the danger created by the sudden removal of all the spells that were protecting him for years. He is about to learn that there are more witches out there and that some can be pretty nasty.

I think that the use of the first person narrative voice was brilliant, even necessary for this novel to have the proper effect. We are able to hear Norman tell the story from his point of view and in his own words and roll our eyes wondering if this pig-headed snob is EVER going to open his eyes to what is happening around him. Ultimately, just as he would accuse primitive societies of being trapped by their ignorance, he is likewise trapped by his own self-imposed rigid mindset. In his world view, men are cognitively and emotionally superior to women and all "reality" is merely a reflection of science and mathematics. Anything not "scientific" or at least scientific in is definition, is not reality. It is amusing and sometimes horrifying to watch him rationalize the supernatural events occurring around him.

Finally, with his wife's help (who actually would have been MUCH better off without his meddling in the first place) he is able to right what was wrong and get everything back the way it was before he intervened. You can't help but smirk when you read how he slants the action so that it always looks like he is the hero that saves the day. The real brilliance of the novel is that Norman's narration is transparent. Even while he tells you about his application of scientific principles and logical solutions to the horror confronting them, you can see the terrified Norman cowering behind it all. This Norman knows that he has left himself and Tansy naked to an evil onslaught and that he is completely out of his depth. He retreats into depression and alcohol and lashes out in frustration at those around him. It is pathetic to watch him, even though he believes in the reality of the magic, attempt to sell himself on the idea that everything that is going on is explainable by scientific, psychological, or medical causes.

Well, good triumphs over evil and at the end Tansy asks him if he has changed his mindset or if he is already rationalizing the whole chain of events into a scientific explanation. We don't get the answer, but clearly we hope that Norman has learned a bit from his wife, who has shown a tremendous amount of patience with her stubborn and close-minded husband. (less)

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May 03, 2010 R.G. Evans rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Someone saw me reading this book recently and asked me what it was. I told her the title and read her the blurb at the bottom of the front cover: "The Classic of Modern Urban Fantasy." What a condscending smirk I got in return--undeservedly so, I should say.

Without books like "Conjure Wife," there would be no Richard Matheson, no Stephen King, no Clive Barker. In short, no "modern urban fantasy."

The plot in a nutshell: a sociologist discovers his wife--and all women--are practicing witches. Thi...more

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May 08, 2013 J.M. Cornwell rated it 5 of 5 stars

One of these days I will have to sit down and figure out how many books I have chosen to read because of movies I've seen, and how many authors I have finally understood and enjoyed because I saw a movie made from the book first. Conjure Wife is one of the former since I didn't know that there was a book upon which the movie Burn, Witch Burn, which I first saw many moons ago, was based.

Earlier this week when I read that Conjure Wife was indeed what the movie was based on, I had to read the book.

...more

One of these days I will have to sit down and figure out how many books I have chosen to read because of movies I've seen, and how many authors I have finally understood and enjoyed because I saw a movie made from the book first. Conjure Wife is one of the former since I didn't know that there was a book upon which the movie Burn, Witch Burn, which I first saw many moons ago, was based.

Earlier this week when I read that Conjure Wife was indeed what the movie was based on, I had to read the book. Fritz Leiber was not one of my favorite science fiction and fantasy writers, but I am always game to take a chance. A visit to Amazon and a download later and I was in the midst of the academic world of a small college and into the mind of the professor teaching about the roots of magic and sociology of the primitive and modern minds.

Considering Conjure Wife was Fritz Leiber's debut effort, I was not disappointed. Leiber goes deep into the mind of a modern man who is determined to see the use of magic and spells as an aberration of his wife's intelligence and experience in various sociological forays into primitive societies. How could his rational wife be serious about such medieval notions and actually practice and believe that spells could effect any change in the way things were done?

Leiber erodes Norman Saylor's resistance like a relentless tide eating away at the sand beneath his conventional beliefs. From the first hint of trouble when he burns his wife's last packet of magical protection in his watch casing, Norman is forced to see the truth of his rise and favor in his academic world. Norman is assailed by a psychotic student who has failed exams and been summarily cast out of yet another university, a female student's crush and claims of sexual misconduct, and losing the department chair to a less worthy colleague.

Norman attempts to find some order among the superstitious chaos that surrounds him and seeks help from one of his friends, a mathematics professor, in quantifying the ingredients of a spell that will restore his wife's soul to her body. Conjure Wife is a wondrous concoction of superstition, science, and psychology that brings the war of the sexes into a very real and fascinating journey to the heart of what makes men and women different and the same.

One thing I realized as I read Conjure Wife is that I had seen a frothy and light-hearted version of this story before. Fritz Leiber's book has been made into three movies since it was published in 1933: Weird Woman n 1944, Burn, Witch Burn (aka Night of the Eagle) in 1960, and Witches' Brew in 1980 starring Teri Garr and Richard Benjamin, which is the light-hearted version.

Fritz Leiber mastered the war between the sexes and the way that men and women see and deal with the world in Conjure Wife. Leiber's language is brilliant and clear and his obvious wonder at the secret world of women is priceless, so much so that a fourth remake of the book is now in the works.

I thoroughly enjoyed the book and Leiber's writing and may now have to remedy the dearth of Leiber's sword and sorcery and science fiction in my library.

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Apr 11, 2012 Shedrick Pittman-Hassett rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

From my blog: http://serialdistractions.com

Norman Saylor is that most-rational of men: the staid, college professor. He leads a relatively quiet life as an ethnosociologist at Hempnell College, a stereotypically conservative liberal arts school in New England. His wife, Tansy, is young, vivacious, and bit of a cipher for the other professor's wives in his social circle. If he's not well-liked by the other Hempnell faculty, he at least has their respect; though he secretly holds many of them and...more From my blog: http://serialdistractions.com

Norman Saylor is that most-rational of men: the staid, college professor. He leads a relatively quiet life as an ethnosociologist at Hempnell College, a stereotypically conservative liberal arts school in New England. His wife, Tansy, is young, vivacious, and bit of a cipher for the other professor's wives in his social circle. If he's not well-liked by the other Hempnell faculty, he at least has their respect; though he secretly holds many of them and their tradition-centered attitudes in contempt. Life is good and orderly for Norman--until the day he sneaks into his wife's dressing room and discovers that Tansy has been dabbling in the ancient arts of witchcraft to advance his career and to protect him from the maleficent influence of fellow practitioners at the college. Disturbed by his wife's neurosis, he demands that Tansy destroy all of her charms and wards, though Norman soon finds that perhaps he was better off under his wife's supernatural protection after all.

Leiber, perhaps better known as an originator of the "sword and sorcery" genre with his Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser series, brilliantly builds suspense and tension until the very last page of the novel. Further, his description of the inner workings of the many systems of witchcraft is both fascinating and, ironically, rational. The writing here is top-notch on almost every level--the only weakness being in the flatness of most of the story's characters.

However, the novel that Leiber created is not a character study. He's playing with classic dichotomous ideas. Science vs. Superstition. Masculinity vs. Femininity. Rationality vs. Emotionalism. The roiling fires of barbarism beneath the surface of civility. The story is more than just a metaphor for these conflicts--it is a finely spun tale in its own right. But Leiber does an equally fine job of exploring these bigger ideas as well.

Nevertheless, you can't discuss this book without addressing the role of gender in the central conflict of the novel. On the surface, Leiber seems to be playing into the old "woman = emotion, men = intellect" false comparison. And while his characters are certainly enmeshed in that worldview, Leiber is actually digging a bit deeper, turning the idea inside out. Norman, despite his seeming contempt for traditionalism, hides behind his rationality--to his peril. In fact, over the course of Norman's journey, he has come to believe in a sort of rational supernaturalism, a true mixture of these two seemingly separate concepts and is thus a more realistic and sympathetic character. Nevertheless, more modern readers may find it a bit old fashioned in its gender sensibilities.
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Apr 02, 2012 Matthew Hunter rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: horror-dark-fiction-ghosts, favorites

I cannot exaggerate how much I enjoyed reading "Conjure Wife", my first encounter with Fritz Leiber. From the not-so-subtle foreshadowing of doom:

"Oh, it was a wonderful day all right, one of those days when reality becomes a succession of such bright and sharp images that you are afraid that any moment you will poke a hole in the gorgeous screen and glimpse the illimitable, unknown blackness it films; when everything seems so friendly and right that you tremble lest a sudden searing flash of in...more I cannot exaggerate how much I enjoyed reading "Conjure Wife", my first encounter with Fritz Leiber. From the not-so-subtle foreshadowing of doom:

"Oh, it was a wonderful day all right, one of those days when reality becomes a succession of such bright and sharp images that you are afraid that any moment you will poke a hole in the gorgeous screen and glimpse the illimitable, unknown blackness it films; when everything seems so friendly and right that you tremble lest a sudden searing flash of insight reveal to you the massed horror and hate and brutality and ignorance on which life rests."

Through the ongoing parallel between the nuclear arms race and magical standoffs:

"Is it to be wondered if people grasp at superstition in this rotten, hate-filled, half-doomed world of today? Lord knows, I’d welcome the blackest of black magic, if it could do anything to stave off the atom bomb.”

And throughout the slow building of tension that leads to a near-breathless twist ending, I was hooked. Science versus Magic; quantifiable versus unquantifiable. Norman Saylor's comfortably ordered and scientific mind is under assault from the get go. Watch his almost-painful-to-witness struggle to retain some semblance of rational order:

"With the singlemindedness of inebriation, his scholar’s mind began to assemble world-wide evidence of witchcraft. For instance, was it not likely that all self-destructive impulses were the result of witchcraft? Those universal impulses that were a direct contradiction to the laws of self-preservation and survival. To account for them, Poe had fancifully conceived an 'Imp of the Perverse,' and psychoanalysts had laboriously hypothesized a 'death wish.' How much simpler to attribute them to malign forces outside the individual, working by means as yet unanalyzed and therefore classified as supernatural."

The supernatural appears to gain the upper hand for Norman:

"Then, in one instant of diabolic, paralyzing insight, he knew that this was sorcery. No mere puttering about with ridiculous medieval implements, no effortless sleight of hand, but a straining, back-breaking struggle to keep control of forces summoned, of which the objects he manipulated were only the symbols. Outside the walls of the room, outside the walls of his skull, outside the impalpable energy-walls of his mind, he felt those forces gathering, swelling up, dreadfully expectant, waiting for him to make a false move so that they could crush him."

But in the final lines of the novel, reason and academic training prove tenacious:

“'[D]o you honestly believe all this, or are you once more just pretending to believe for my (Tansy's) sake?' ... 'I don’t know,' said Norman softly and as seriously as before. 'I don’t really know.'"

Interestingly, though Saylor claims witches and superstitious people are deluding themselves to avoid dealing with a grim reality, it's Saylor's compulsive clinging to a fragile sense of order that represents deep delusion. It's his scientific world that produced the atom bomb, an irrational, suicidal invention if there ever was one. Saylor fears this product of reason as much as he fears black magic, putting him in an uncomfortable limbo state between the academic world of Hempnell College and Tansy's world of unseen magical forces. Saylor's extreme discomfort explains his attempts to find formulaic explanations for magic, and his stubborn yet humble final words - "I don't really know." Though no longer certain of magic's nonexistence, Norman still cannot follow his advice to Tansy and give up his own reason-inspired "charms." The book's done, but the struggles for Norman and Tansy are far from over.

Written in 1943, "Conjure Wife" includes some outdated, even offensive language (repeated use of the term "Negro"). But Leiber's smart, vivid storytelling ability cannot be denied. For me, reading "Conjure Wife" was like having a high-quality, creepy noir film playing in my head, complete with bursts of scary music accompanying lightning flashes. In the end, Leiber's novel deserves every bit of my five-star rating.(less)

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Oct 26, 2009 Stefan rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, horror, www-fantasyliterature-com-review

Conjure Wife is a 1943 horror novel by master fantasist Fritz Leiber, who is best known for his excellent FAFHRD AND THE GRAY MOUSER stories. While Conjure Wife is usually labeled as horror, the recently released trade paperback edition from Orb is marketed as "the classic of urban fantasy" — maybe to latch on to the recent surge in popularity of that sub-genre? Regardless of which genre it's placed in, Conjure Wife is an excellent novel that definitely deserved a re-release.

Norman Saylor is a s...more Conjure Wife is a 1943 horror novel by master fantasist Fritz Leiber, who is best known for his excellent FAFHRD AND THE GRAY MOUSER stories. While Conjure Wife is usually labeled as horror, the recently released trade paperback edition from Orb is marketed as "the classic of urban fantasy" — maybe to latch on to the recent surge in popularity of that sub-genre? Regardless of which genre it's placed in, Conjure Wife is an excellent novel that definitely deserved a re-release.

Norman Saylor is a sociology professor at the small — and as far as I can tell, entirely fictional — college of Hempnell. Early on in the novel, Saylor discovers that his wife Tansy has been attempting to practice magic. Saylor, a very rational and cerebral man, attempts to convince Tansy that magic isn't real, but after she destroys all the protective magical artifacts hidden around their house, Saylor's life suddenly takes a turn for the worse: old and new enemies appear, small accidents start to happen, his tenure at the college suddenly is in danger...

As this subtly terrifying story progresses, Conjure Wife does an excellent job at contrasting the different personalities of the characters. Saylor is supremely rational and always tries to find a logical explanation for even the most bizarre situations and actions. His wife Tansy is a more intuitive and passionate soul. Saylor's colleagues, and their wives, are all fully realized characters. Throughout private meetings, bridge games, lectures, and the inevitable conflicts, Fritz Leiber does an amazing job making these people feel realistic and real. This novel, barely 220 pages long, has a very high signal-to-noise ratio — an extremely enjoyable and fast read that will reveal more details upon re-reading.

For a novel written more than 60 years ago, Conjure Wife isn't nearly as dated as it could be. Aside from the distinct fact that the entire teaching staff is male, and a few other societal values that have changed, this novel could be set in any small college today. More proof of the timeless adaptability of this story: the three movies that were based on this novel were made in 1944, 1962 and 1980 — and I could easily see a 4th movie, set in the present day.

For newcomers to Fritz Leiber, I would still recommend FAFHRD AND THE GRAY MOUSER first, but Conjure Wife is an excellent standalone novel — and a great book to curl up with on Halloween!

This review is also published at www.fantasyliterature.com - come visit!(less)

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Jun 21, 2012 David rated it 4 of 5 stars

Fritz Leiber was blessed with the ability to combine strong psychological realism with striking fantasy, horror or sci-fi notions. He was cursed by alcoholism, which perhaps explains why his reputation never came close to equalling many less able genre writers. Conjure Wife is a rarity in that it's the only Leiber novel to be made into a (very good) feature film - Night of the Eagle, starring Peter 'Jason King' Wyngarde.

Spoiler Bit Follows...
The book's premise is simple: magic is real, and many...more

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Apr 14, 2012 Mallory Anne-Marie Forbes rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: climb-that-mountain-high-challenge, april-2012-reads, april-angels-demons-challenge

What a difference the course of decades makes! I read this book initially as a young child, and was terribly impressed. For some reason I had carried away the idea that it was about witchcraft, about a wife who practiced "conjure" unknown to her suburban businessman husband while he was away at work in the City. (Wherever did I get that concept?:)) Reading it today I saw much more to its layers than merely a superficial Supernatural veneer-although there is of course much Supernatural in it. But...more

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Apr 17, 2012 Kristopher Kelly rated it 3 of 5 stars

There's a lot to recommend this story of a man who learns his wife has a bit of a witchcraft habit. The writing style is clean and admirable, and the story moves at a decent clip. Whether Tansy Saylor, the wife of skeptical college professor Norman, is actually a witch or is instead one among a group of similarly deranged women is left to the reader to decide. Either way, in order to save her, Norman must often act as if the magic were real. I personally found the restraint required for such a b...more

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Apr 22, 2013 B.R. Sanders rated it 2 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Fritz Leiber’s Conjure Wife is a strange little book.It is expertly written, and it is also utterly misogynist. Conjure Wife, written in 1943, is generally well-regarded and pointed to as an early and promising example of horror and urban fantasy. Some go so far as to call it a classic. Three films have been made using it as a starting point.

But, were anyone to ask me (and obviously no one did as this book review, like all of my book reviews, is unsolicited and will likely disappear, unread, int...more

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Apr 02, 2012 Chris rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy, pulp, dark-fantasy, urban-fantasy

Fritz Leiber is best remembered for his Lankhmar tales, featuring swordsmen Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser. I can argue with myself back and forth over who is the best sword-and-sorcery author, but I find Fafhrd and the Mouser to be more vibrant and interesting characters than Conan or Kull or Kane. And while his career ran the gamut of SF, fantasy, and horror, Leiber’s first penned novel was the dark fantasy Conjure Wife, for a 1943 issue of Unknown Worlds.

Norman Saylor is a rational college profes...more Fritz Leiber is best remembered for his Lankhmar tales, featuring swordsmen Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser. I can argue with myself back and forth over who is the best sword-and-sorcery author, but I find Fafhrd and the Mouser to be more vibrant and interesting characters than Conan or Kull or Kane. And while his career ran the gamut of SF, fantasy, and horror, Leiber’s first penned novel was the dark fantasy Conjure Wife, for a 1943 issue of Unknown Worlds.

Norman Saylor is a rational college professor at the rural college of Hempnell. As an ethnographer he’s made his academic career studying superstitions—but he doesn’t believe in it. Until he goes searching through his wife Tansy’s dressing room on a whim, and discovers little charms and supplies for practicing witchcraft. Tansy arrives home at that moment, and Norman, over the course of the evening, convinces her that it’s a neurosis with no basis in science and that she should drop the crazy habit. She does. But as the last charm is thrown into their fireplace, Norman has a bad feeling…

Then strange things start happening around Norman. There’s the angry phone calls in the middle of the night, mentally unstable students start bothering Norman. There’s his colleagues, competing with him for department chair, uncovering coincidences between his thesis and an earlier one by another scholar, and dealing with his crazed students. Plus his colleagues’ wives, a batch of odious women if there ever was one. Last of all, and most important, there’s that stone dragon on the roof of the lecture hall next to Norman’s office, which he could swear is moving closer every day… but that would be illogical and silly, as would telling Tansy, so Norman stays quiet as the coincidences accumulate.

Conjure Wife is very early in Leiber's career, and has a number of niggling details that irked me. It's overloaded with adverbs; it's slow to develop; it's dated and non-PC in parts, dealing with both "the magic of southern Negroes" and how female irrationality gives women the power of the occult. Technical complaints aside, the plot, pacing, and tension this novel builds is amazing. Age has tarnished the novel, but it is far from rusted over. The way it holds up is remarkable: while it dates itself, Conjure Wife is still as engaging and chilling today as in the 1940s.

(Full review found here.)(less)

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Jun 14, 2012 Nick Colen rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: pulp-fictions

This book was at least thirty years ahead of its time. Within the first several chapters it predicts the civil rights movement, the womens lib movement, the sexual revolution and the evolution of the American university system. It's a story about the power women hold over men and the secret strengths that shape our lives. Though this is a work of genre fiction I consider it a classic of socially conscious literature.
P.s. this book was written in the fourties and is the first place that the word...more

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May 01, 2013 Scott rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy

All women are witches. Not in a bad way! Tansy Saylor uses her craft to protect and aid her liberal college professor Norman. But there are others who have darker, more selfish motives. When Norman convinces his wife that it's all just superstition, Tansy's enemies move in.

I liked parts of this a lot, but there were things that didn't make sense. Tansy knows her magic is real, so why does she give it up so easily? When she disappears one morning, how is it possible for Norman to receive a letter...more

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Jun 01, 2012 Jean-marcel rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is probably one of the earliest Leiber books I've got, and I must say that even in these comparatively young days Fritz really knew how to weave an engaging and masterfully told story. Since I was no stranger to Leiber coming into this novel, I think I had a better handle on some of the obsessions and ponderings that he returns to again and again in many of his stories, and so the supposed sexism that prevents some from wholeheartedly appreciating Conjure Wife didn't really strike me as suc...more This is probably one of the earliest Leiber books I've got, and I must say that even in these comparatively young days Fritz really knew how to weave an engaging and masterfully told story. Since I was no stranger to Leiber coming into this novel, I think I had a better handle on some of the obsessions and ponderings that he returns to again and again in many of his stories, and so the supposed sexism that prevents some from wholeheartedly appreciating Conjure Wife didn't really strike me as such at all.

All right, so yes, the premise is indeed that all the women associated with the college faculty are practising witches, and, by extension, that all women, everywhere, have something of the witch about them, even if they don't necessarily know it themselves or aren't aware that the rituals and routines they engage in are a form of magic. How do we really feel about that? Wouldn't it be pretty amazing if that were true? Also, while the best art shall always remain timeless, I think it's significant at this point to remind that the book was published in 1941. As everyone knows, the 1940s was an interesting time for society in the USA in particular, with, eventually, so many men joining the army and going off to war, leaving women in positions which they would not have otherwise attained given the then-current social structure. It must have been strange for all these men to return home and suddenly feel that they were displaced, resulting largely in the rather conservative backswing of the 1950s. It's interesting to compare the novel with the film Night of the Eagle from the late 1950s, which was based on Leiber's work here. It somehow manages to come off as being more sexist than the book, simply because the women all really do feel like accessories to their husbands and their careers. I like the film, actually, but I really think Leiber was going for something altogether different.

Of course, Leiber is no conservative. He rails against mindless traditionalism, sexism, racism and so on in so many of his tales. But women have always remained the most compelling, achingly potent mystery to him. When I say "mystery", I don't mean that they're something completely unfathomable and unreachable...I mean it in the sense of "the mysterious other", that which fascinates and draws and consumes so much but which can never quite be fully apprehended or understood. It is this mystery that throbs at the core of Conjure Wife, and I think it's important to look beneath a basic concept that our instincts might tell us is a bit daft and see what Leiber was really driving at here.

Norman Saylor is indeed rather rigid, a bit set in his ways, maybe even a bit too pious despite his continual fall-back to science. I don't think he's necessarily meant to be a stand-in for the author himself, but there is probably more than a bit of Fritz in him all the same. Tansy's a great character: strong-willed and observant, sharp and clever. Of course, as this is a Leiber story and we're led confidently into a situation of near domestic bliss, the Saylor family has a cat. Leiber really, really loves cats, so you know when something awful happens to the cat, it's supposed to really make us feel that things have become extremely dire. They do, too...when a gease is placed upon Norman and he's almost driven to suicide, the claustrophobia and tension of the writing reminds that Leiber could do horror writing as well as any of the masters in the field. The stuff with the soul exchanging and so on is excellent, and inexplicably, didn't even make it into the film. Seeing Tansy walking around all empty and soulless was one of the most chilling things I've ever read, and it works precisely because we've gotten to know this happily married couple and exactly what makes them thrive off one another, when things are "normal".

So yes, I think this is really good; maybe not the best thing Leiber wrote but certainly far ahead of most of his contemporaries. I just love the man's writing and find it intensely potent, layered and inspirational, and I think more people need to discover what a treasure he was. I think it's great that even when he tells a ripping yarn of some kind there's always some impression of greater things lurking there that will leave you remembering and talking about the book long after you've finished. Conjure Wife is certainly one of these entries in his distinguished bibliography.(less)

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Mar 29, 2012 Charlene rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: classic-horror-read, loanable-kindle-books

This was a fun novel about a witch.

The professor of a small college discovers that his wife is practicing magic.
He's disgusted that his wife, superstitious and flighty as she is, would do such a thing and orders her to immediately discontinue her practices.
Unfortunately, he does not consider that there could have been benefits associated with her charms.
I enjoyed the book very much despite the prejudices against women. Since this book was published in the 50's, I guess that type of thing is par...more

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Jan 18, 2013 Randolph Carter rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, horror

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Imagine that all the women in the world were witches, some good (white), some bad (black), and there was a constant battle between these good and bad forces and in this way a sort of balance is maintained. Now imagine all the "rationalistic" men in the world haven't got a clue (I know some will say this part is easy). There you have the gist of Conjure Wife.

Norman and Tansy are a stereotypical 1940s young couple. Norman is a college anthropology professor driven by everything scientific and Tans...more Imagine that all the women in the world were witches, some good (white), some bad (black), and there was a constant battle between these good and bad forces and in this way a sort of balance is maintained. Now imagine all the "rationalistic" men in the world haven't got a clue (I know some will say this part is easy). There you have the gist of Conjure Wife.

Norman and Tansy are a stereotypical 1940s young couple. Norman is a college anthropology professor driven by everything scientific and Tansy is a white witch trying to nudge his career along a bit through magic but mainly trying to save his ass from all the evil forces, jealous black witch university spouses, trying to run him down. One day Norman finds some of Tansy's witchy things while going through her personal stuff, something he does regularly when she is not around (which is creepy by itself). Norman enraged demands that Tansy give up all this superstitious nonsense and she like a good wifey does. Well this is a supernatural story so you can see where this is all going. Predictably everything in Norm's and Tansy's life goes downhill really fast. The rest of the story is how this mess is going to be resolved.

The primary theme that drives the novel is the tension between the rational and irrational. Norm is a pig headed asshole who dearly loves Tansy but in my opinion takes way too long to come around. They are pretty much in the basement of the outhouse by the time Norm even starts to "get it," and poor Tansy, not Norm, has the worst of it. Even then Norm is really only going through the motions instead of actually believing in what is really happening and what he is doing to set things right. He just can't set his rationality aside even for love or death.

There is a critical juncture late in the novel where the suspense finally takes us. I'm not going to tell what it is, but the male gets to be the typical hero. I would have liked a more ambiguous ending. I think it would have been more profound. Having discussed Tiptree a lot recently I wondered what she would have done with this idea. There was an entire gender aspect that could have been a more explored part of the story.

I had two problems with the believability of the plot. One, as I said, Norm takes way too long (maybe even never) to "get it," and concede his rational view of the universe is just plain wrong. I know that if he came around sooner we get a short story and not a short novel, so good ol' Fritz needs to drag this out for there to be a novel. Two, Tansy is way too intelligent to be the good wifey and to let this thing get as out of hand as it does. She KNOWS what shit is possible. True she loses her conjure book at one point, but somehow she manages to eventually come up with some pretty mojo magic without it and spell it out for dimwit Norm from this side and from beyond the grave as well.

The novel starts out sort of slow, for the first third, but eventually becomes a pretty suspenseful supernatural thriller; a real page turner for the last 2/3. Despite being gender dated it was a good read. Lots of subsequent secret coven plots used ideas pioneered here.(less)

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Jan 19, 2013 Paulo Carvalho rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, horror

In my opinion this must have been a good novel at the time it was written. I imagined it had received good critics. But unfortunally reading it today I didn't felt connected to it.

First of all I think Leiber is an excelent writer. No doubt about it. But the plot suffered for what I call TimeLife. Maybe there is a term for it but I do not know it. My thoughts are these. Reading today in 2013, with hundreds of novels of urban fantasy avaiable this book fails to achieved it's goal. It's like most...more In my opinion this must have been a good novel at the time it was written. I imagined it had received good critics. But unfortunally reading it today I didn't felt connected to it.

First of all I think Leiber is an excelent writer. No doubt about it. But the plot suffered for what I call TimeLife. Maybe there is a term for it but I do not know it. My thoughts are these. Reading today in 2013, with hundreds of novels of urban fantasy avaiable this book fails to achieved it's goal. It's like most books written in the Gothic. Maybe they were good in those days but we are different.

The example I give is MacGyver. I really enjoy it. I still can watch it and like it. Or Knight Rider or something from those days in the 80's. But most people born after those tv's shows had long gone find them tedious when they have so much to see with action, adventure, life and so on.

Maybe I read "Conjure Wife" in the wrong time of my life. I enjoy a couple of gothic novels but others I find it boring that I can't even get to the middle of it.

Now for the book itself.

The protagonist is Norman Saylor, a professor of sociology in a College who starts wondering how did it get his sucess and his loveable wife (Tansy). One day he discovers that she is a practicioner of witchcraft and after a argument he says she must stop using that that she thinks is magic (which he doesn't believe).

After that problem solved several others appear almost at the same time with the culmination of his wife's disappearing. After this he tries to find rationality behind the witchcraft and even conjuring it.

Of course this was written in the 40's where how ideals were different from today. Men were sexist and thought of themselves the stronger gender and women were behind each spouse with devotion. Since this was written from Norman perspective he is a typical guy from the 40's. It's like saying Lovecraft was racist. Another times, another beliefs people. We can't judge them.

The premise behind the book it's simple. Behind each man is a woman but in this case behind each man is a powerful witch woman behind always fighting for the companions. And this is why woman were always relegated, persecuted and even killed. Because Men fear Women.

Either way. This is not the birth for Urban Fantasy but I can see why it's labelled that way. This is a psychological literature with mild influences of horror. Neither was it scary or had gore in it.

Why should you read?
Don't expect what the covers says but as I said before it's a Leiber book so if you like other things he wrote you will enjoy this one.(less)

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Jan 18, 2013 BurningYourBooks rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: bump-in-the-night, fantasy, bell-book-candle, audio-booked-it

Every woman in the world is a witch.

And not a single man knows it.

At a small New England college professor Norman Saylor and his sensuous wife Tansy life a happy life. One day while idly riffling through some of her belongings he's shocked to find that she's secretly been practicing a form a witch craft behind his back. When he confronts her about it she begs him to let her continue, hinting that she might not be the only woman at the college dabbling in the black arts, and that her spells were...more Every woman in the world is a witch.

And not a single man knows it.

At a small New England college professor Norman Saylor and his sensuous wife Tansy life a happy life. One day while idly riffling through some of her belongings he's shocked to find that she's secretly been practicing a form a witch craft behind his back. When he confronts her about it she begs him to let her continue, hinting that she might not be the only woman at the college dabbling in the black arts, and that her spells were only ever meant to help him. Despite protests, Norman forces Tansy to burn all her magical paraphernalia in an attempt to help her overcome what he dubs her "childish psychosis" about charms and magic. Reluctantly Tansy agrees, and as soon as the last charm of protection is fed into the fire, the trouble immediately begins.

There's a lot going on in this story that immediately drew me in. What "Conjure Wife" sometimes lacks in writing, it more than makes up for in theme. The world that Saylor and Tansy inhabit, despite what reader's instinct might other wise say, is instantly believable. You'd think that a world in which every woman in the world has been secretly pulling off spells for the past several thousand years would have something "off" about it, but the fiercely protective and spiteful world of witchcraft hierarchy possess a credible and organic feel to it. Even more so when you take into account that Leiber has chosen to set this particular tale in the already vindictive social world of professor's wives.

But more than all of this, what I found particularly interesting were the ideas of science and gender that Leiber was playing with throughout the book. "Conjure Wife" was written at an interesting time in our nation's history. The atomic bomb has gone off, two world wars had been fought and won, womans lib was coming in a huge wave. One gets the sense that in writing this, Leiber was really trying to write a rallying point for young career aged men to safely explore the inevitable anxieties such social upheavals would have created for the privileged "white male between 18 - 48" set.

And really, can you blame him? Science, and all of its thoroughly modern trappings that had been so lauded as a masculine ideal in the realm of study, had finally begun to lend itself to the creation of horrific weapons capable of destruction beyond imagining. What's more, it was all under man's control, and no heavenly retribution had yet come down from the sky for it. For the first time men were there own gods of destruction - this was shaky new territory at best. It must have seemed terribly cathartic for Leiber, himself an academic, to retreat into a fantasy world that was so dominated by the feminine primitive power.

But I'm digressing. Shit I hate that.

tl;dr

The Conjure Wife help a lot more awesome than I expected it to. It's a book in the tradition of the early horror writers that used horror and scifi as a vehicle to explore social anxieties, but it does work remarkably well as an entertaining diversion from the usual witchy type books out there. Recommended. (less)

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