Skip to content

Booksellers & Trade Customers: Sign up for online bulk buying at trade.atlanticbooks.com for wholesale discounts

Booksellers: Create Account on our B2B Portal for wholesale discounts

Weird Sisters: Scottish Witches in the Literary Imagination

by Julian Goodare
Save 20% Save 20%
Current price ₹2,598.00
Original price ₹3,250.00
Original price ₹3,250.00
Original price ₹3,250.00
(-20%)
₹2,598.00
Current price ₹2,598.00

Imported Edition - Ships in 12-14 Days

Free Shipping in India on orders above Rs. 500

Request Bulk Quantity Quote
+91
Book cover type: Paperback
  • ISBN13: 9780859767453
  • Binding: Paperback
  • Subject: N/A
  • Publisher: John Donald Publishers
  • Publisher Imprint: John Donald Publishers
  • Publication Date:
  • Pages: 160
  • Original Price: GBP 25.0
  • Language: English
  • Edition: N/A
  • Item Weight: 225 grams
  • BISAC Subject(s): Europe / Great Britain / Scotland

Witches in medieval fiction were linked with otherworlds - heaven, hell or fairyland. By the later sixteenth century, as witchcraft prosecutions gathered pace, fictional witches were connected more firmly to the Devil and to hell. Writers then began undermining this by treating witchcraft as a topic of ridicule; threatening magic was replaced by harmless folklore.

This book analyses fictional and imaginative writings about Scottish witches between about 1450 and 1750. It places literary witches in their historical context, comparing them with real people who were prosecuted and executed for witchcraft in this dark period of Scotland's past. It turns out that literary witches are often very different from historical ones: most are comical characters, and some are not even human.

The phrase 'weird sisters', familiar from Shakespeare's Macbeth, originated in Scotland, and there is a detailed discussion of the meaning of the phrase and connections between the 'Scottish play' and Scotland itself. Many of Scotland's famous Renaissance poets and dramatists wrote about witches, including William Dunbar, Sir David Lindsay and Alexander Montgomerie, and their work is also explored. By the end of the book, the discussion turns to Robert Burns's 'Tam o' Shanter' (1791) in which literary witches are fantasy fiction - as they have remained.

Trusted for over 49 years

Family Owned Company

Secure Payment

All Major Credit Cards/Debit Cards/UPI & More Accepted

New & Authentic Products

India's Largest Distributor

Need Support?

Whatsapp Us