Le retour du mort

The evocation of the prophet Samuel by the witch of Endor (I Samuel/Kings, 28) is the sole Old Testament instance of contact sought between the living and the dead. Because this brief episode had a vital role in confirming or denying the possibility of such a contact, it gave rise for centuries to endless debates. This book follows those debates over the course of the 16th-18th centuries, the period in which the interests at stake evolved most. It shows that the episode successively served to prove, among other things, the possibility of a contact with the dead, the immortality of the soul, the work of the devil, the marvelous, and the existence of God. It discusses the various factors that determined hermeneutical choices: the accidents of biography, social bonds, professional identity or types of discourse. The figure of the witch changes when viewed through the eyes of inquisitors, medical doctors, exorcists, magistrates, a king keen on demonology, a tailor inspired by the Holy Spirit, a ventriloquist, students of painting or a producer of spectacles.