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Demonic Texts and Textual Demons: the Demonic Tradition, the Self, and Popular Fiction

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Demonic Texts and Textual Demons: the Demonic Tradition, the Self, and Popular Fiction Note on this edition: this is an electronic version of the 1999 book, which was published by Tampere University Press. This PDF version is provided free of charge for personal and educational use, under the Creative Commons license with author’s permission. Commercial use requires a separate special permission. For copyright reasons, this electronic edition does not include any illustrations, and you are advised to purchase the printed version from Tampere University Press, http://granum.uta.fi (cc) 2005 Frans Ilkka Mäyrä k0K DDEEMMOONNIICC TTEEXXTTSS AANNDD TTEEXXTTUUAALL DDEEMMOONNSS k0K TAMPERE STUDIES IN LITERATURE AND TEXTUALITY ——————————— Series Editor: Pekka Tammi University of Tampere k0K DDEEMMOONNIICC TTEEXXTTSS AANNDD TTEEXXTTUUAALL DDEEMMOONNSS The Demonic Tradition, the Self, and Popular Fiction k0K Frans Ilkka Mäyrä TAMPERE UNIVERSITY PRESS Tampere Studies in Literature and Textuality Series Editor: Pekka Tammi, University of Tampere P.O.Box 607, FIN-33101 Tampere, Finland Frans Ilkka Mäyrä, Demonic Texts and Textual Demons: The Demonic Tradition, the Self, and Popular Fiction. Diss. © 1999 Tampere University Press Distributor University of Tampere Sales Office P.O. Box 617, FIN-33101 Tampere Finland Tel. +358 3 215 6055 Fax + 358 3 215 7150 [email protected] http://granum.uta.fi Layout by Frans Ilkka Mäyrä ISBN 951-44-4508-2 Printed by Vammalan Kirjapaino Oy Acknowledgements I am very pleased that I can finally acknowledge the plurality of voices that have helped and encouraged me during this long period of work. First of all, I would like to thank the Department of Literature and the Arts at the University of Tampere, and the School of Literary and Textual Theory for making all this possible. All my colleagues in Tampere and Hel- sinki have my deepest gratitude, especially Klaus Brax, Teemu Ikonen, Janna Kantola, Kuisma Korhonen, Marjo Kylmänen, Tiina Käkelä-Puumala, Kai Mikkonen, Minna Niemi-Grundström, Heta Pyrhönen, Jyrki Vainonen and Tanja Vesala-Varttala, who have all read and commented on my texts. To- gether, they have been a magnificent sounding board for ideas, providing good critique, thoughtful advice and great company. Special thanks to professors Pekka Tammi and H.K. Riikonen for lead- ing our work and for setting high professional standards with their own ex- ample. In particular, professor Tammi’s determination and commitment to the completion of the work has been essential. In the earlier stages of my re- search I have profited from the comments by Kirsti Simonsuuri, Matti Sa- volainen and Mikko Lehtonen, as well as from seminars with Brian McHale, Michael Holquist and Sara Mills, among others. I am particularly grateful to professor John Alphonso Karkala (State University of New York) for reading and commenting my work, and for many discussions that increased my awareness of the sensitivities involved with religious and multicultural issues. Many thanks also to the English Department at the University of Tam- pere: Joel Kuortti for introducing me to Salman Rushdie’s work, Nicholas Royle for Derrida and deconstruction, and especially to David Robertson, whose expertise on Milton and the questions related to the self in literature have been a great source for inspiration. The detective work of the interlibrary loan division of Tampere Univer- sity Library has been invaluable in acquiring my diverse source materials. I am also grateful to the Vatican Museums for allowing me to reproduce “The Transfiguration” by Raphael, UIP/Paramount Pictures and Warner Bros. for permissions to reproduce the images from Rosemary’s Baby, The Exorcist, Blade Runner and Interview with the Vampire. The Finnish Film Archive was kind enough to allow me an access to their collections. At the final stages of the work, Kirby Olson carefully proof-read the manuscript and offered many inspiring comments. Many thanks also for the expert readings by Anthony Johnson (Åbo Akademi) and Kent P. Ljung- quist (Worcester Polytechnic Institute): they suggested many improve- ments, and also such further lines of inquiry that I can only hope to be able to explore in the future. There are many challenges to be confronted if one wants to pursue one’s own way – Sanna, Tarja, Markku: thanks for your trust, support and encouragement. My friends and family have believed in my work, but they have also done their best to save me from my demons from time to time. With love and persistence they have proven the existence of quite a solid and enduring world outside my den, without which this enterprise would finally have been unbearable. For this I want to express my deepest gratitude. – Frans Ilkka Mäyrä Tampere, Finland This book is dedicated to my parents, Reetta and Matti Mäyrä. Contents Acknowledgements Illustrations Abbreviations The Beginnings..................................................................................... 1 PART I 1. The Ancestry of the Demonic ...................................................... 23 2. The Demonic in the Self................................................................ 53 3. Unravelling the Demonic Text..................................................... 81 PART II 4. Demons of Horror: Intimations of an Inner Alien .................. 113 5. Mothering a Demon: Rosemary’s Baby ...................................... 126 6. The Inarticulate Body: Demonic Conflicts in The Exorcist ..... 143 7. Good at Being Evil: the Demons of The Vampire Chronicles .. 169 8. The (Un)Traditionalist: Clive Barker’s Devil ........................... 192 9. Technodemons of the Digital Self.............................................. 205 10. The Satanic Verses and the Demonic Text ............................... 249 The Epilogue .................................................................................... 288 Bibliography ..................................................................................... 296 Index ................................................................................................. 334 Illustrations Cover: “Possessed Regan” from The Exorcist (the main image) “Theseus and Pirithous as prisoners and bound by an Erinys” from an Etruscan vase – 25 “Assyrian-Babylonian demon of disease and evil” after a wall carving at Nineveh – 34 “Christ exorcising a Demon” from an Armenian gospel – 43 “The Transfiguration” by Raphael – 78 “The vascular system” from the Encyclopédie – 105 “Rosemary (Mia Farrow)” from Rosemary’s Baby – 133 “Statue of Pazuzu” (Musée du Louvre) – 157 “The mother’s handwriting” from The Exorcist – 162 “Father Karras observing the possessed Regan” from The Exorcist – 165 “Louis (Brad Pitt) destroying the Theatre of the Vampires” from Interview with the Vampire – 178 “The History of the Devil,” the poster by Clive Barker – 194 “Dying Roy Batty (Rutger Hauer)” from Blade Runner – 230 “Rachael (Sean Young)” from Blade Runner – 234 “Rustam Killing the White Demon,” the emblem from The Satanic Verses – 261 “St. Anthony Assaulted by Devils” after Schoengauer’s copper engraving – 294 Abbreviations BT Anne Rice, The Tale of the Body Thief DA Philip K. Dick, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep E William Peter Blatty, The Exorcist F Mary Shelley, Frankenstein, or, the Modern Prometheus HD Clive Barker, “The History of the Devil” IV Anne Rice, Interview with the Vampire MD Anne Rice, Memnoch the Devil N William Gibson, Neuromancer QD Anne Rice, The Queen of the Damned RB Ira Levin, Rosemary’s Baby SV Salman Rushdie, The Satanic Verses VL Anne Rice, The Vampire Lestat See Bibliography for further details. The Beginnings And Jesus asked him, “What is your name?” He replied, “My name is Legion; for we are many.” – The Gospel according to Mark1 INTRODUCING THE INTRODUCTIONS This study deals with demons, and the plural and heterogeneous materials associated with them. It is not concerned with the actual existence of such beings, or with metaphysical speculations that such beliefs might inspire; rather, the reality of demons I am interested in unfolds in the pages of fic- tion and in horror movies, in hallucinatory fantasies of visionaries, madmen, and people tormented by anxieties and oppressive social conditions.2 Trou- blesome and often obnoxious, demons nevertheless continue to figure in our nightmares and even in such waking fantasies as might be granted the name of art. They have been in our cultural vocabulary for thousands of years and continue to challenge our assumptions and theories of human na- ture. Ancient transgressors, they help to give a historical dimension to the current debate on dissolution of subjectivity, plurality, heterogeneity and conflicts in the structure of the self. They can be approached with theories of text or the self, but in the process they also help to reveal the demonic tensions in these theories, in their own textual selves. Since the subject of this study is plural, not one, it is only appropriate that it has several introductions. The first one, “Discovering the Demonic Heritage” will open this work with some notable examples of demonic fig- ures appearing in folklore and literature. The next section, titled “The Char- acter of This Study,” will position my work by discussing its goals, theoreti- cal and methodological preferences, and it also clarifies my use of some key 1 Mk. 5:9. – Bible translations are from the “Revised Standard Version” if not other- wise indicated. 2 Readers interested in engaging in campaigns against the demonic powers are well served by the abundant offerings of bestselling “spiritual warfare” literature; e.g. Kurt E. Koch,
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