1st Edition
The Devil and the Victorians Supernatural Evil in Nineteenth-Century English Culture
Introduction
1. The Theological Devil
2. The Folkloric Devil
3. The Occult Devil
4. The Popular Devil
5. The Literary and Theatrical Devil
Conclusion
Biography
Sarah Bartels is a cultural and religious historian specialising in the history of the supernatural in nineteenth-century England. She completed her PhD at the University of Queensland in 2019.
"The Devil and the Victorians is a welcome warning for historians of nineteenth-century religion that the supernatural should not be excluded or reduced to a footnote, but deserves scholarly attention in its own right and on its own terms…Together, the chapters ably and elegantly bring into dialogue a variety of published sources—from Punch and Judy to printed sermons, to court material and fiction, to Theosophical and spiritualist periodicals. Together they make this study a valuable contribution to the now well-established argument against nineteenth-century disenchantment: the Devil adapted to modernity, even flourished in it, precisely because of the flexibility of ‘beliefs, practices, narratives, and entertainments’ that got attached to him.."
Kristof Smeyers, University of Antwerp
