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The Penguin Book of the Undead
The Penguin Book of the Undead: Fifteen Hundred Years of Supernatural Encounters | Scott G. Bruce
16 posts | 8 read | 23 to read
The dead live again in this haunting compendium of ghostly visitations through the ages, exploring the history of our fascination with zombies and other restless souls. Since ancient times, accounts of supernatural activity have mystified us. Ghost stories as we know them did not develop until the late nineteenth century, but the restless dead haunted the premodern imagination in many forms, as recorded in historical narratives, theological texts, and personal letters. "The Penguin Book of the Undead" teems with roving hordes of dead warriors, corpses trailed by packs of barking dogs, moaning phantoms haunting deserted ruins, evil spirits emerging from burning carcasses in the form of crows, and zombies with pestilential breath. Spanning from the Hebrew scriptures to the Roman Empire, the Scandinavian sagas to medieval Europe, the Protestant Reformation to the Renaissance, this beguiling array of accounts charts our relationship with spirits and apparitions, wraiths and demons over fifteen hundred years, showing the evolution in our thinking about the ability of dead souls to return to the realm of the living and to warn us about what awaits us in the afterlife."
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IndoorDame
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Definitely outside of my comfort zone, but it looks like it would be a great reference book. And it has a suitably terrifying cover. #undead #OminousOctober #Scarathlon2022 #TeamMonsterMash @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks @Eggs @StayCurious

BkClubCare Yes, it is a terrifying cover! 👻 1y
Soubhiville So creepy! 1y
Eggs Adore this cover 💀🖤💀 1y
47 likes2 stack adds3 comments
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vivastory
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Pickpick

Bookended with excerpts from the Odyssey & Hamlet & featuring a few excerpts of the Sagas, this collection consists largely of accounts, letters & testaments concerning the undead. With a few exceptions of “rampaging revenants“ the collection is largely concerned with spirits, friendly & malevolent. Scott Bruce, the editor of the collection & a professor of medieval history makes a compelling argument for the Catholic Church having taken the👇

vivastory Old Testament story of the Witch of Endor, plus pagan beliefs & essentially inventing the ghost story as a way of encouraging profitable intercessions & to expand & solidify power. Despite the dubious motives of some of the authors, there are some real gems in here, such as Hellequin's Horde which predates Dante's imaginative rendering of The Inferno & the utter strangeness surrounding many of the events in the section Spectral Servants of the 2y
vivastory Church both come to mind. This is a book to read in fragments over several days, but the historical “accounts“ with nice turns of phrases, plus the more literary works makes for a compelling collection. that expanded my understanding of the history of the ghost story. 2y
Graywacke Sounds fantastic. (Quite the cover too) 2y
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vivastory @Graywacke It was pretty interesting! I noticed that the same editor also edited The Penguin Book of Hell, so I'll be looking into that one eventually. The cover is pretty unsettling, for sure. 2y
batsy This sounds so intriguing. And yep, that cover! 2y
Branwen That cover! 😱😱😱🙈 2y
64 likes6 comments
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vivastory
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From the 13th C. Eyrbyggja Saga.
The Sagas were WILD

LeahBergen 😳 2y
45 likes1 comment
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veritysalter
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Mehso-so

A book detailing what Ancient and early cultures believes happened to the soul after death, and why some believe to have been contacted by them. Starting with the Ancient Greeks through to Shakespeare - the reason I‘ve given this incredibly well researched book a ‘so-so‘ is that it is too Christian centric - I would have liked to learn what other religions had to say on this topic.

erzascarletbookgasm The cover is creepy! 💀 4y
readordierachel Sounds interesting. I would be put off by the lack of religious diversity as well. 4y
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veritysalter
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🧡🧡 Happy Halloween 🧡🧡 What are you reading tonight?

kezzlou85 The woman in black if I get time after the Halloween activities tonight. 4y
veritysalter @kezzlou85 That‘s a good choice, hope you have a fabulous evening and happy reading. (Ps I got your parcel today; I‘ll post yours this week). 4y
kezzlou85 @veritysalter thank you. Oh wow that was quick. Only posted it yesterday. Royal Mail were on the ball. ❤ 4y
erzascarletbookgasm Yikes! The cover! 🖤 4y
26 likes4 comments
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veritysalter
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“The dead live again in this haunting compendium of ghostly visitation through the ages, exploring the history of our fascination with zombies and other restless souls”

coffeewithbooks Sound so scary lol . I have to thinking about getting this lol 😂 4y
11 likes1 comment
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Caksf
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Pickpick

Finally finished my Halloween nonfiction read! This is a collection of “historical narratives, theological texts and personal letters” analyzed and compiled by the author to present a compelling narrative of the evolution of society‘s perspectives and relationships to the “undead”. I love books that give insights into modern belief systems by exposing their origins. If this is also your thing- I highly recommend this one!

bookloo Right up my speed! Thanks. ☺️💞 6y
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Sarrie
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Mehso-so

First of all, that cover is intensely creepy. The insides, not so much! I was fairly disappointed in this one, I'd hoped for more variety but the accounts were almost entirely Catholic in source, the rest were Greek/Roman or (in the end) Shakespeare. I was a wee bit disappointed by this. There were a few that were pretty crazy even for early Catholicism, but not what I was hoping for. Ah well...

Karkar The cover is creepy! Those fingers on the white strip down by the title creep me right out 😱😱 7y
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jen_hayes7
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Mehso-so

This book was very interesting. So-So because it wasn't quite what I expected. I thought there would be more commentary and interpretation versus a collection of stories. Some of the included texts also went on longer than necessary causing me to lose interest. Regardless, very informative collection of how societies views on the undead have changed over 1500 years. Shocker- religious views play a large role. A good October read!

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jen_hayes7
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Still on vacation. Today's the first day in almost a week that I've had time to read. A lovely 97 degree day in Arizona spent reading by the hotel pool. 😉

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Liberty
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Have you heard about the #AllHallowsRead photo challenge on @Litsy ? ☠️🎃👻🕸📚

Gissy No. 7y
142 likes1 comment
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WoodyWoodson
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👻💀📖👻💀📖👻💀😺👿

BookishFeminist 👹👹👹 7y
Gayan 👻👺👽☠️💀😵 7y
Dragon 😀👍🏼🎉 7y
37 likes3 comments
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BookishFeminist
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#BookMail is the best mail!! 📬

Look what came from Amazon today! Seriously y'all, don't drink and Litsy or drink and Amazon like I did last night. 🍷

I sadly can't enjoy any of it right now since our power is out, so excuse the poor lighting. at least it sets the mood for these spooky reads. Can't wait to start Crooked Kingdom once the power is back!🕯🔮💀⚰✨

#ghostsoflitsy #scaretober

HiddenGemBooks Edgar Allen Poe! He's amazing. 😍 7y
Shortstack Love the lighting! Looks intentionally amazing. 😉 7y
TheBookAddict I got Crooked Kingdom yesterday from Amazon as well. It's wonderful, I'm just sad I haven't been able to get to it, I had to go to work. 7y
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Louise Ah, book mail! Sigh! 😊😍🤓 7y
8leagueboot This is some killer bookmail! 7y
read_diverse_books You deserve this and more! No need to feel guilty about it, even in jest. 😤 7y
BookishFeminist @cookiejanester He sure is! He's one of my faves 😀 7y
BookishFeminist @Shortstack Right?! It set the mood perfectly. It's like the weather knew 😂 7y
BookishFeminist @TheBookAddict Oh no! 😱 I hope you can get to it soon- I plan to because I don't want spoilers 😬 7y
BookishFeminist @Louise @NorthEastofEden It is! I wanted same day delivery for Crooked Kingdom so aw shucks a couple other things had a fly into my cart to meet the $35 minimum 💸💸 7y
BookishFeminist @read_diverse_books You are the sweetest! ❤️ I promise I don't feel guilty at all, lol. They're books, what is there to feel guilty about? 😀 7y
LeahBergen You lucky duck!! (and now I know why your photo above looks like you are atmospherically conjuring up the dead ... your power is out!) 7y
BookishFeminist @LeahBergen 😂😂 it is! Made for some great atmospheric lighting for the photo at least 🕯 but truly this is really just any ole Thursday night for me 7y
Cinfhen Sorry about the loss of power but your photos are awesome💀👻👍🏻 7y
BookishFeminist @Cinfhen Thank you! The photos turned out much better than I expected for no power! But it's no big deal - that's why I've got my kindle. Besides it's every book nerd's dream to sit around with open windows during a rainstorm (we have an overhang so the rain won't get inside) with candlelight and some spooky reading, right? 😀🕯💀 7y
Cinfhen @BookishFeminist ummm, yeah!!! Sounds like a perfect night 🌟⚡️👌glad it all worked out and lucky you...all those new books😉 7y
BeckyK You've styled it out! Love the moodiness :) 7y
BookishFeminist @Beckykearns Thanks! It was forced styling since we didn't have power earlier during a thunderstorm 😂 7y
Eugeniavb Ohhhh I so want the Penguin one 7y
Posemn Open windows, rainstorm, candles. Sounds like perfection! What does the candle smell like? 7y
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PirateJenny
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Pickpick

Things that go bump in the night. You may have noticed I have a thing for them. This book fills that nicely. It's a history of ghosties, ghoulies, and things that go bump in the night from ancient Greece though the Middle Ages. We all know the Middle Ages were a hotbed of awesome stories of the undead. And how can you not want this cover looking at you all night?