Witches

Front Cover
Harry N. Abrams, Mar 30, 2004 - Body, Mind & Spirit - 176 pages
This witch's brew of a book is back in all its tantalizing glory to enchant a new generation of readers. Best-selling author Erica Jong here turns her attention to the fantastical and factual world of witchcraft. In beguiling poetry and prose, she looks at the figure of the witch both as historical reality and as archetype - as evil crone and full-breasted seductress, as a lingering vestige of a primeval religion and a projection of fear of the unknown. Joseph A. Smith's powerful, haunting illustrations enliven each page, as Jong investigates the witch as a survivor of the age of sorcery, as a scapegoat for male-dominated church-state politics, as a remarkable natural healer, and as a hexer without peer. Real recipes for love potions and flying lotions, along with formulas for spells and incantations, make this book a rich journey of mystery and delight. Available in paperback for the first time, Witches has been a favorite since it was published more than 20 years ago - a testament to the enduring fascination with the myths and truths about these intriguing figures.

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About the author (2004)

Erica Jong was born on March 26, 1942. She received a B.A. from Barnard College and a M.A. in 18th Century English Literature from Columbia University. She also attended Columbia University's graduate writing program where she studied poetry. She has written numerous volumes of poetry, novels, and non-fiction works including Fruits and Vegetables, Fear of Flying, How to Save Your Own Life, Parachutes and Kisses, Sappho's Leap, Seducing the Demon: Writing for My Life, and It Was Eight Years Ago Today (But It Seems Like Eighty). She has received numerous awards including the United Nations Award for Excellence in Literature, Poetry magazine's Bess Hokin Prize, the Deauville Award for Literary Excellence, and the Sigmund Freud Award for Literature.

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