Bruxaria e cristianismo em Lolly Willowes de Sylvia Townsend Warner: uma análise voltada ao feminino

Abstract

Sylvia Townsend Warner (1893-1978) was a prominent British writer of the early twentieth century, but little known in the Brazilian academic millieu. Given the importance of her work in regard to feminist studies, this work deals with an analysis of the elements of witchcraft and Christianity in Lolly Willowes (1926), a novel that shows a relationship between the realism and the fantastic. The trajectory of the protagonist Laura, born and educated in a Christian home, until her consolidation as a witch in a village near the city in which she lived, is observed here as the development of the female liberation from the patriarchal moorings. In this sense, it was needed a study on the European social context of the beginning of the last century, as well as information about witchcraft and the role of women in that society. Thus, the main objective of this research was to analyze the commonalities and the differences between Christianity and witchcraft and how the presence of both themes in Lolly Willowes happens, based on feminist and feminine theories. For this analysis, ideas and theories of authors who have studied paganism, such as Scott Cunningham (1998) (2001) (2018) and Nubia Hanciau (2004), were used, as well as sites on esotericism that deal mainly with the meaning of herbs and of the elements of witchcraft. It was also important to read the writings of Claire Harman (1991), among others who have studied Warner's life, such as Jacqueline Shin (2009), Gill Davies, David Malcolm and John Simons (1991) and Janet Montefiore (2005). From this analysis it was possible to perceive a little of the historical context in which Warner lived, standing out the images and the feminine role in the twentieth century, which was almost totally directed to the domestic environment. Thus, in writing Lolly Willowes, Warner criticizes society–witchcraft could be analyzed as the freedom women sought, or as the adventure they wished to live. In addition, Warner fortified his text, making some mentions to Christianity, placing the woman as a social example, submissive and ruled. It has also been found that the witchcraft present in this first novel by Warner is very deep and based on Margaret Murray’s The Witch Cult in Western Europe (2003).