Conjure Wife
Encyclopedia
Conjure Wife is a supernatural horror novel by Fritz Leiber
.
Its premise is that witchcraft flourishes as an open secret among women. The story is told from the point of view of a small-town college professor who discovers that his wife is a witch.
This novel was the first by Fritz Leiber. It is said to have been the inspiration for at least three films: Weird Woman
(1944),
Night of the Eagle
(aka Burn, Witch, Burn!) (1962), and
Witches' Brew
(aka Which Witch is Which?) (1980). A new film adaptation of Conjure Wife was announced in 2008, to be directed by Billy Ray.
's Modern Fantasy: The 100 Best Novels
and in Fantasy: The 100 Best Books by James Cawthorn and Michael Moorcock
. In The Encyclopedia of Fantasy
, David Langford
described it as "an effective exercise in the paranoid."
Damon Knight
wrote
Boucher
and McComas
similarly lauded the novel as "one of the best of all novels on witchcraft survivals in the enlightened modern world." P. Schuyler Miller
described it as "one of those classics we talk about so glibly," despite finding the denouement less effective than the setup. New York Times reviewer Basil Davenport noted it was marked by "real excitement."
Everett F. Bleiler
found Conjure Wife to be "nicely handled as a suspense story, although Saylor's psychology is a little simplistic."
, Tom Doherty Associates
, Penguin Books
, and Award Publications.
Fritz Leiber
Fritz Reuter Leiber, Jr. was an American writer of fantasy, horror and science fiction. He was also a poet, actor in theatre and films, playwright, expert chess player and a champion fencer. Possibly his greatest chess accomplishment was winning clear first in the 1958 Santa Monica Open.. With...
.
Its premise is that witchcraft flourishes as an open secret among women. The story is told from the point of view of a small-town college professor who discovers that his wife is a witch.
This novel was the first by Fritz Leiber. It is said to have been the inspiration for at least three films: Weird Woman
Weird Woman
Weird Woman is an Inner Sanctum mystery film directed by Reginald Le Borg, and starring Lon Chaney, Jr., Anne Gwynne, and Evelyn Ankers. The "Inner Sanctum" franchise originated with a popular radio series and all of the films star Lon Chaney, Jr....
(1944),
Night of the Eagle
Night of the Eagle
Night of the Eagle is a 1962 British horror film directed by Sidney Hayers. The script by Charles Beaumont, Richard Matheson and George Baxt was based upon the 1943 Fritz Leiber novel Conjure Wife. The film was retitled Burn, Witch, Burn! for the US market .-Synopsis:Norman Taylor , a...
(aka Burn, Witch, Burn!) (1962), and
Witches' Brew
Witches' Brew (film)
Witches' Brew is a 1980 horror comedy film directed by Herbert L. Strock and Richard Shorr who co-wrote screenplay with Syd Dutton. It was based on Fritz Leiber Jr.'s novel Conjure Wife...
(aka Which Witch is Which?) (1980). A new film adaptation of Conjure Wife was announced in 2008, to be directed by Billy Ray.
Plot
Tansy Saylor is the wife of an up-and-coming young sociology professor at a small, conservative American college. She is also a witch. Her husband, Norman, discovers this one day while rummaging through her dressing table: he finds vials of graveyard dirt, packets of hair and fingernail clippings from their acquaintances, and other evidence of her witchcraft. He confronts Tansy, and manages to convince her that her faith in magic is a result of superstition and neurosis. Tansy burns her charms; and Norman's luck immediately goes sour. He realizes that he had been protected, up til now, by Tansy's charms, and that as a result of his meddling, they are both now powerless to counteract the spells and charms of the other witches all around them.Critical response
The novel is widely acknowledged to be a classic of modern horror fiction. It was included in David PringleDavid Pringle
David Pringle is a Scottish science fiction editor.Pringle served as the editor of Foundation, an academic journal, from 1980 through 1986, during which time he became one of the prime movers of the collective which founded Interzone in 1982...
's Modern Fantasy: The 100 Best Novels
Modern Fantasy: The 100 Best Novels
Modern Fantasy: The 100 Best Novels, An English-Language Selection, 1946-1987 is a nonfiction book written by David Pringle, published by Grafton Books in 1988 ; next year by Peter Bedrick Books . The foreword is by Brian W. Aldiss....
and in Fantasy: The 100 Best Books by James Cawthorn and Michael Moorcock
Michael Moorcock
Michael John Moorcock is an English writer, primarily of science fiction and fantasy, who has also published a number of literary novels....
. In The Encyclopedia of Fantasy
The Encyclopedia of Fantasy
The Encyclopedia of Fantasy is a 1997 reference work on fantasy, edited by John Clute and John Grant. Other contributors include Mike Ashley, Neil Gaiman, Diana Wynne Jones, David Langford, Sam J. Lundwall, Michael Scott Rohan, Brian Stableford and Lisa Tuttle.The book was well-received upon...
, David Langford
David Langford
David Rowland Langford is a British author, editor and critic, largely active within the science fiction field. He publishes the science fiction fanzine and newsletter Ansible.-Personal background:...
described it as "an effective exercise in the paranoid."
Damon Knight
Damon Knight
Damon Francis Knight was an American science fiction author, editor, critic and fan. His forte was short stories and he is widely acknowledged as having been a master of the genre.-Biography:...
wrote
Conjure Wife, by Fritz Leiber, is easily the most frightening and (necessarily) the most thoroughly convincing of all modern horror stories...Leiber develops [the witchcraft] theme with the utmost dexterity, piling up alternate layers of the mundane and outré, until at the story's real climax, the shocker at the end of Chapter 14, I am not ashamed to say that I jumped an inch out of my seat...Leiber has never written anything better.
Boucher
Anthony Boucher
Anthony Boucher was an American science fiction editor and author of mystery novels and short stories. He was particularly influential as an editor. Between 1942 and 1947 he acted as reviewer of mostly mystery fiction for the San Francisco Chronicle...
and McComas
J. Francis McComas
Jesse Francis McComas was an American science fiction editor. McComas wrote several stories on his own in the 1950s using both his own name and the pseudonym Webb Marlowe....
similarly lauded the novel as "one of the best of all novels on witchcraft survivals in the enlightened modern world." P. Schuyler Miller
P. Schuyler Miller
Peter Schuyler Miller was an American science fiction writer and critic.-Life:Miller was raised in New York's Mohawk Valley, which led to a life-long interest in the Iroquois Indians. He pursued this as an amateur archaeologist and a member of the New York State Archaeological Association.He...
described it as "one of those classics we talk about so glibly," despite finding the denouement less effective than the setup. New York Times reviewer Basil Davenport noted it was marked by "real excitement."
Everett F. Bleiler
Everett F. Bleiler
Everett Franklin Bleiler was an editor, bibliographer, and scholar of science fiction, detective fiction, and fantasy literature. In the late 1940s and early 1950s, he co-edited the first "year's best" series of science fiction anthologies, and his Checklist of Fantastic Literature has been called...
found Conjure Wife to be "nicely handled as a suspense story, although Saylor's psychology is a little simplistic."
Publication
Conjure Wife was originally published in the April 1943 volume of Unknown Worlds. An "expanded and revised" version was published by Twayne Publishers in its Witches Three anthology in 1952, then issued as a stand-alone novel in 1953. The latter version has been reprinted many times, in both hardcover and paperback editions, by a variety of publishers, including Ace BooksAce Books
Ace Books is the oldest active specialty publisher of science fiction and fantasy books. The company was founded in New York City in 1952 by Aaron A. Wyn, and began as a genre publisher of mysteries and westerns...
, Tom Doherty Associates
Tom Doherty
Tom Doherty is an American publisher, and the founder of Tor Books. After working as a book salesman in the 1950s and 1960s, Doherty became publisher of Tempo Books in 1972; in 1975, he became, in addition, publisher of another company also owned by Grosset & Dunlap, the science fiction imprint...
, Penguin Books
Penguin Books
Penguin Books is a publisher founded in 1935 by Sir Allen Lane and V.K. Krishna Menon. Penguin revolutionised publishing in the 1930s through its high quality, inexpensive paperbacks, sold through Woolworths and other high street stores for sixpence. Penguin's success demonstrated that large...
, and Award Publications.