Damned: An Illustrated History of the Devil [Hardcover]

Robert Muchembled (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 19, 2004

Damned explores the long, dark history of one of the most influential figures in Western history: the Devil. With an extraordinary array of images from medieval illuminated manuscripts and Renaissance painting to modern cinema, comic strips, and advertising, Damned portrays the Devil in both religious and secular realms, while the text traces the Devil's evolution from the sadistic beast of the monastic imagination to the Devil who lurks inside every pleasure-seeking individual today.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This wickedly attractive coffee-table book by Muchembled, a Parisian scholar who specializes in the history of witchcraft, traces the devil from the 12th century to the present. Satan, writes Muchembled, represents "the dark side of Western culture" and is a product of the human imagination, so any analysis of Old Scratch reveals a great deal about the changing landscapes of Europe and America through the ages. One particularly intriguing chapter touches on contemporary themes: how psychoanalysis has changed our view of the devil, how horror films have depicted Satan and how recent marketers have blithely employed his image to sell products. Muchembled doesn't have time for real depth of analysis in the short essays that form the text of this book, which is a pity, because he offers some provocative insights and sharp cultural critique. The real star is the book's full-color art, with its dazzling display of images from medieval manuscripts to contemporary comics. We see depictions of masks, cartoons, sketches, masters' paintings, facsimiles of broadsides, woodcuts and carvings of the devil through the ages. All are accompanied by Muchembled's incisive (and occasionally mordant) commentary.
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From Booklist

This gorgeously illustrated volume chronicles how the image of the devil in Western art has changed over the years. Muchembled divides the book into five sections, beginning with early images of the devil from the Middle Ages. The devil and his acolytes primarily showed up to torment sinners in grotesque, often sexual, ways. Subsequent sections deal with witches and sorcerers, who were believed to have consorted with the devil, and wicked women, whose tempting figures represented an almost satanic lure for otherwise pious men. Muchembled includes a diverse collection of images from artists such as Vasari, Bosch, and Goya, depicting the devil's visage in everything from a small imp to a sinister, distinctly sexual woman. But as he progresses to the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, Muchembled finds the devil losing his power to provoke fear; instead, he becomes a more human figure and sometimes even a comic one. Muchembled has done an admirable job of presenting the history of the devil in popular culture by mixing lively text with a variety of colorful renditions of Satan. Kristine Huntley
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 200 pages
• Publisher: Seuil Chronicle (August 19, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 2020629291
• ISBN-13: 978-2020629294
• Product Dimensions: 12 x 10.8 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,700,275 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Diabolically good, April 26, 2005

By 

Peter F. Martyn (Brattleboro, VT) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Damned: An Illustrated History of the Devil (Hardcover)

Ah, the Devil. I've always been intrigued by the guy. From a brief foray into the Church of Satan in high school to a more academic interest in college, I've long been interested in the way religion and society attempt to explain the darker side of human existence. So I was rather delighted to receive this book as (irony alert) a Christmas present.

I was not disappointed. This is one gorgeous tome. The illustrations are striking and the commentary insightful and illuminating (if a bit brief). In particular, the section on medieval depictions of Satan is stunning...there is a creatively unsettling streak to those images which has yet to be matched. I do think the book fizzles out towards the end, as it enters modernity, but perhaps this is simply because us modern enlightened people have little use for devils and demons anymore. At any rate, pictures of the devil as a medium for advertising just don't compare to paintings of a triumphant King of Hell torturing the wicked.
Lastly, I had hoped that perhaps this book would take a little time to look at how non-Christian cultures have viewed the Devil or similar beings (like the Talmudic Lilith or the Arabic Shaitan). Even without that hope fulfilled, this is still a worthy and enlightening read. If you've got any sympathy for the devil, you'd do well to check this out.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A DISAPPOINTMENT, December 10, 2007

By 

R. Cushing "MOVIE CYNIC" (MURRAY, UTAH) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Damned: An Illustrated History of the Devil (Hardcover)

I FOUND THE PICTURES TO BE QUITE GOOD. SADLY, THE TEXT WAS SPARSE AND IN THE CASE OF THE MOVIES, I WONDER IF THE AUTHOR HAS SEEN THE MOVIES HE TALKS ABOUT. FOR INSTANCE: HE STATES THAT "...DR. PRETORIUS TEACHES FRANKENSTEIN HOW TO PRODUCE A FEMALE VERSION OF HIMSELF IN ORDER TO OVERCOME HIS CRUSHING LONELINESS." FRANKENSTEIN AND THE MONSTER ARE TWO DIFFERENT CHARACTERS. THE BRIDE WAS CREATED BY DR. FRANKENSTEIN, NOT BY THE MONSTER. HE MAKES IT SOUND LIKE LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT FOR THE BRIDE AND THE MONSTER. THIS MAY BE TRUE FROM THE MONSTER'S PERSPECTIVE, BUT THE BRIDE TAKES AN ALMOST IMMEDIATE DISLIKE TO THE MONSTER.

HE ALSO DESCRIBES THE FREDDIE KRUGER'S INCARNATION AS "...DECAYED LIKE A HUMAN CADAVER..." FREDDIE IS SCARRED BY THE BURNS HE RECEIVED IN THE FIRST MOVIE. HE IS NOT DECAYED.

HASN'T THE AUTHOR ACTUALLY SEEN THESE MOVIES? OR IS HE BASING HIS SUMMATIONS ON THE POSTERS AND STILLS HE SEES? HE SHOULD STICK TO THE PAINTINGS AND AREAS OF HIS EXPERTISE. WHEN HE GETS SOME THINGS WRONG, THEN ALL THE REST OF HIS SUMMATIONS BECOME SUSPECT.

MY RATING IS BASED ON THE PICTURES, NOT THE TEXT.

4.0 out of 5 stars Images Galore!, December 12, 2007

By 

S. Livingston "Art Goddess" (Champaign, Il) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Damned: An Illustrated History of the Devil (Hardcover)

It owns up to its title, An Illustrated History of the Devil. The text is sparce and not that great, but there are oodles of images. Lots of old stand bys in terms of images of the devil, but some different, more rare images, worth having, but a little light on new or unusual works.