The Possession at Loudun

Rating:
Summary: Brilliant if difficult
Review: This book is very complicated. If you're looking for a simple, straightforward account of the possessions at Loudun, read Huxley's book. If, on the other hand, you're interested in Michel de Certeau, this is definitely the place to start (as Stephen Greenblatt says in his foreword).

De Certeau was one of the greatest historians of his generation, but many of his books are simply inaccessible; The Practice of Everyday Life makes graduate students all over the world weep. This book is accessible and tells you most of what you really need to know about how de Certeau works.

First, look at the way he breaks down a straightforward narrative structure. He notes that the traditional mode of reporting is aligned with an empirical sense of data, but that in this case, that mode of data-reportage is very much one faction's bailiwick--that of the doctors and the jurists, who are working for the King. So he recognizes that he can't quite buy that mode, and has to step outside. This is something Harry Harootunian has talked about too, but de Certeau did it better.

Next, examine the way he talks about the layers upon layers of "possession," of the colonization or imperialism expressed toward the nuns' bodies and voices, their language and discourse, the whole truth of "what really happened." These things are exactly the problem in the Loudun case, and de Certeau tries to leave them as complex as they were while making them comprehensible. Some might think this is playing with words and metaphors, but it's not: it's the most elegant take on this kind of approach you'll ever likely see.

Finally, look at his intersections of original texts and commentary. The original was given as texts "presented by" de Certeau, which gets at the heart of the matter. He contextualizes all those texts, but not just in the sense of where they happened in history but also where, in the most complex sense, they existed or were produced or had meaning in history.

This is de Certeau at his best. Read this first, and think about everyday life. Think about spectacle: think about how, as he says, although there was weeping and wailing about the possessions and exorcisms, this didn't prevent the serving of snacks to the visitors. Put it all together and you have an actual historical moment in its total context.

Nobody ever pulls this off like he did. Read it, think about it, do it, and try again. Then re-read it. And do it over. This is what great history really is, at base, if we are willing to discard outdated preconceptions and dubious assumptions.

Not an easy read, but this is the best there is.