The Black Spider
After one of their own members repeatedly fails to live up to a pact with the Devil, a petty and morally bankrupt village community is terrorized by a succession of deadly black spiders. First published in 1842, this haunting cautionary novella shrewdly dissects the iniquitous social dynamics of...
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After one of their own members repeatedly fails to live up to a pact with the Devil, a petty and morally bankrupt village community is terrorized by a succession of deadly black spiders. First published in 1842, this haunting cautionary novella shrewdly dissects the iniquitous social dynamics of rural life through the use of dark satire and realism.
show less
Format: paperback
ISBN:
9781847491084 (1847491081)
Publish date: October 1st 2009
Publisher: Oneworld Classics
Pages no: 109
Edition language: English
Category:
Fantasy,
Classics,
Paranormal,
Novels,
Academic,
School,
Literature,
European Literature,
Cultural,
Read For School,
Literary Fiction,
Horror,
German Literature,
Germany
Tw: spiders gif The moral of this short story is don't make deals with the devil. It will cost you your soul and your descendents' souls, possibly. My personal interpretation: If you are gonna make deals with the devil, don't think you can pull a fast one on him. It will cost you your soul and your...
I thought this was incredibly charming and atmospheric, despite the fact that it's essentially the sort of simple religious allegory that normally makes me run a mile. The Christian symbolism is indeed the whole point: the author was a nineteenth-century village pastor who regarded his fiction as a ...
Rating : 2,5 stars out of five. It was a bit more than ok, almost likeable.This story is a not-so-long tale is about a group of villagers in difficulties that made a pact with the devil and try to out run him. That leads to an evil spider released upon them. I’ve noticed many comments over the inter...
A one dimensional morality play with the following moral: it is better to die suffering than to make a deal with the devil.
A short review for a short and disappointing story. I'd heard a lot of good things about The Black Spider, in spite of its relative obscurity. Thomas Mann once said that he admired Gotthelf's most enduring story "almost more than anything else in world literature", which makes me wonder if I missed ...
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