Monday, May 14, 2007

Helen Duncan


When we were reading Marina Warner's scholarly work PHANTASMAGORIA (as reported previously on the "blog"), we were particularly taken with the strange tale of Helen Duncan, the last person to be convicted (in 1944) under the Witchcraft Act of 1753. Well, who should mention Helen Duncan today but the respected "litblog" The Elegant Variation. We feel a bit guilty calling attention to it, as "TEV" seems somewhat ambivalent ("almost too weird to link to," they write, a phrase we can never imagine employing, which is one of our problems) about trafficking in the lurid details of James Bond's possible involvement (!) with the fate of Ms. Duncan. But allow us to openly display the relish that "TEV" perhaps feels in its heart.