Possessed – Women, Witches, and Demons in Imperial Russia Worobec Paperback

PossessedWomen, Witches, and Demons in Imperial Russia\nAuthor(s): Christine D. Worobec\nFormat: Paperback\nPublisher: Cornell University Press, United States\nImprint: Northern Illinois University Press\nISBN-13: 9780875805986, 978-0875805986\nSynopsis\nWomen known as \""shriekers\"" howled, screamed, convulsed, and tore their clothes. Believed to be possessed by devils, these central figures in a cultural drama known as klikushestvo stirred various reactions among those who encountered them. While sympathetic monks and peasants tended to shelter the shriekers, others analyzed, diagnosed, and objectified them. The Russian Orthodox Church played an important role, for, while moving toward a scientific explanation for the behavior of these women, it was reluctant to abandon the ideas of possession and miraculous exorcism. \n Possessed is the first book to examine the phenomenon of demon possession in Russia. Drawing upon a wide range of sources-religious, psychiatric, ethnographic, and .