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"Spiders Folklore."
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Spider
A wide-ranging, thorough account of the spider, a creature with a rich symbolic presence in the human imagination, this book analyses the spider in art, literature, horror stories, science fiction and film and also looks at arachnophobia, and the psychological association of the spider with dominant women or mothers.
eBook
Anansi goes fishing
Anansi the spider plans to trick Turtle into catching a fish for his dinner, but Turtle proves to be smarter and ends up with a free meal. Explains the origin of spider webs.
Book
Anansi's party time
When Anansi the spider invites Turtle to a party just to play a trick on him, Turtle gets revenge at a party of his own.
Book
Spiders Behaving Badly in the Middle English Physiologus, the Bestiaire Attributed to Pierre de Beauvais and Odo of Cheriton’s Fables
Two remarkably similar depictions of spiders survive in Middle English and French sources from the middle of the thirteenth century. Both of these vernacular versions of the Physiologus deviate so wildly from their sources when it comes to describing these creatures that their editors have declared these passages to be entirely original. And yet, the spiders who survive in the Middle English Physiologus and the long version of the Bestiaire attributed to Pierre de Beauvais perform such similar work that their originality may be called into question. The Physiologus’ and Bestiaire’s descriptions of spiders’ violent hunting methods were likely informed by the burgeoning of natural history writing that accompanied the recovery of Aristotle’s History of Animals, but for these texts’ allegorical interpretations I argue that we should look to Odo of Cheriton’s Latin fables from earlier in the thirteenth century. There is an explicit link between Odo’s fables and the Middle English Physiologus and implicit connections with the French Bestiaire. Together, these analogues demonstrate a small but coherent tradition of emphasizing the diabolical violence of spiders in the multilingual environment of thirteenth-century England and France.
Journal Article
Dances with spiders
For centuries, the rite of the tarantula was the only cure for those 'bitten' or 'possessed' by the mythic Apulian spider. Its victims had to dance to the local tarantella or 'pizzica' for days on end. Today, the pizzica has returned to the limelight, bringing to the forefront issues of performance, gender, identity and well-being. This book explores how and why the pizzica has boomed in the Salento and elsewhere and asks whether this current popu- larity has anything to do with the historic ritual of tarantism or with the intention of recovering well-being. While personal stories and experiences may confirm the latter, a vital shift has appeared in the Salento: from the confrontation of life crises to the vibrant promotion and celebration of a local sense of identity and celebrity.
eBook
Tsuchigumo sōshi: The Emergence of a Shape-Shifting Killer Female Spider
Tsuchigumo sōshi is a fascinating otogizōshi story of a haunted house full of strange creatures that extols the prowess of Minamoto no Raikō (or Yorimitsu, 948-1021), recounting how he vanquished a gigantic earth spider. Although spiders appear in ancient Japanese texts, this picture scroll is the oldest extant work in which a spider is portrayed as a supernatural creature. I speculate that the spider's transformation to an evil, uncanny creature is due to its association with an ont (demon, ogre). During the early modern period, the earth spider was notorious in literature and theatrical performance as a shape-shifting killer. The Nihon shoki and the \"Swords chapter\" of Heike monogatari are widely recognized sources for an influential Noh play, Tsuchigumo, which is rightfully cited as a work that greatly influenced later tsuchigumo literature and performance. I believe Tsuchigumo sōshi should be regarded as a source for the Noh play and for the emergence of an image of tsuchigumo as a killer shape-shifter. A complete translation of Tsuchigumo sōshi accompanies this article.
Journal Article
Arachnid Aesthetics: Gotthelf's \Die schwarze Spinne\
Set in and around a farmhouse with a darkened window post that was standing, and readily identifiable, in Gotthelfs time, the narrative is painstakingly detailed in its lengthy authentic depiction of the baptismal festivities that inform the storyline on all levels; it also overtly references the Black Plague that swept through the region in 1434, decimating the population.5 The central character Christine, identified as a foreign woman from Lindau, likewise has historical precedent6; and the \"truth\" of the supernatural storyline is steadfastly asserted at key points in the narrative.7 At the same time, the text very obviously, if indirectly, draws on numerous literary sources: the myth of Arachne, the legend of Paracelsus, contemporaneous \"black spider\" tales circulating in Switzerland, biblical motifs linking spiders with wickedness and hypocrisy, and folkloric associations of the Devil with spiders.8 As the basis of its poetic realist aesthetic Gotthelf's narrative thus weaves together religion, legend, folklore, myth, magic, and historical fact and converts-and indeed inverts-established history into fiction: [...]in both form and function the text itself mimics a spider's web.10 In the middle of this textual web, at the nexus of these nestling, interwoven narrative circles, lurks the title figure, described as being nowhere and everywhere (84) ,11 a natural and supernatural figure identified at the structural center of the text as a Kreuzspinne (61), a cross spider or cross spinner, an orb spider marked by a cross on its back.\\n On Christmas Eve a strange man-the Devil in disguise-releases the black, glaring spider, who emerges from her wooden hole swollen with centuries of accumulated venom.
Journal Article