The Witch Figure: Essays in Honour of Katharine M.Briggs

by Venetia Newall (Editor)

Folklore essays by a group of scholars in England honouring the 75th birthday of Katharine M. Briggs.The articles constitute the "Editor's Preface"* "Katharine M. An Appreciation," by Ruth Michaelis-Jena* "Animal Witchcraft in Japan," by Carmen Blacker* "Hostile Magic in the Icelandic Sagas," by H. R. Ellis Davidson* "The Ominous Magic," by Margaret Dean-Smith* "Witchcraft at some Prehistoric Sites," by L. V. Grinsell* "Some Instances of Image-Magic in Great Britain," by Christina Hole* "The Jew as a Witch Figure," by Venetia Newall* "The Witch as Victim," by Geoffrey Parrinder* "The Divine Hag of the Pagan Celts," by Anne Ross* "Olaf Tryggvason versus the Powers of Darkness," by Jacqueline Simpson* "Cain's Kin," by Beatrice White* "The Witch as a Frightening and Threatening Figure," by John Widdowson

Genres: Nonfiction, Anthropology, Folklore

239 pages, Hard Cover

First published November 1, 1973

Reviews

[Tom · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of essays in honour of Katharine Briggs. I was puzzled as to the title as it suggests they are all discussing withcraft/witches but this isn't the case. Whilst the majority do, there are some anomalies including one on Comus and another on giants.

A mixed bag, not all are as accessible but there are some worth reading.

[Kylie Shannon · Rating 2 out of 5]

A fairly comprehensive compilation of literary references of witchcraft. However, the take on the stories is heavily slanted towards viewing the witch as the villian in the story and how these stories were meant to frighten people, when in reality the stories were told in an age when people generally believed magic existed side-by-side with science. It simply filled in the gaps for things that could not yet be explained. That didn't make it bad or evil or wrong. And that didn't make the people who practiced magic the bad guys. Even in the examples given in this book, most of the actions of the witches are either jobs that they were tasked to do that happened to harm someone, or witches on either side of a battle doing damage to each other, or a witch taking revenge against someone who had wronged her/him first. It is rare to find stories pre-13th century where a witch is malicious just for the fun of it. Those that are written that way are overwhelmingly Christian in their origin.