1st Edition
The Devil and the Victorians Supernatural Evil in Nineteenth-Century English Culture
In recent decades, there has been a growing recognition of the significance of the supernatural in a Victorian context. Studies of nineteenth-century spiritualism, occultism, magic, and folklore have highlighted that Victorian England was ridden with spectres and learned magicians. Despite this growing body of scholarship, little historiographical work has addressed the Devil. This book demonstrates the significance of the Devil in a Victorian context, emphasising his pervasiveness and diversity. Drawing on a rich array of primary material, including theological and folkloric works, fiction, newspapers and periodicals, and broadsides and other ephemera, it uses the diabolic to explore the Victorians' complex and ambivalent relationship with the supernatural. Both the Devil and hell were theologically contested during the nineteenth century, with an increasing number of both clergymen and laypeople being discomfited by the thought of eternal hellfire. Nevertheless, the Devil continued to play a role in the majority of English denominations, as well as in folklore, spiritualism, occultism, popular culture, literature, and theatre. The Devil and the Victorians will appeal to readers interested in nineteenth-century English cultural and religious history, as well as the darker side of the supernatural.
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
