''Conjure Wife'' (1943) is a supernatural

horror novel Horror is a genre of speculative fiction that is intended to disturb, frighten, or scare an audience. Horror is often divided into the sub-genres of psychological horror and supernatural horror. Literary historian J. A. Cuddon, in 1984, defi ...

by American writer

Fritz Leiber Fritz Reuter Leiber Jr. ( ; December 24, 1910 – September 5, 1992) was an American writer of fantasy, horror, and science fiction. Along with Robert E. Howard and Michael Moorcock, Leiber is one of the fathers of sword and sorcery. Life ...

. Its premise is that

witchcraft Witchcraft is the use of Magic (supernatural), magic by a person called a witch. Traditionally, "witchcraft" means the use of magic to inflict supernatural harm or misfortune on others, and this remains the most common and widespread meanin ...

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 and was first published in the April 1943 edition of ''

Unknown Unknown or The Unknown may refer to: Film and television Film * The Unknown (1915 comedy film), ''The Unknown'' (1915 comedy film), Australian silent film * The Unknown (1915 drama film), ''The Unknown'' (1915 drama film), American silent drama ...

''. It is said to have been the inspiration for at least three films: ''

Weird Woman ''Weird Woman'' is a 1944 noir- mystery horror film, and the second installment in '' The Inner Sanctum Mysteries'' anthological film series, which was based on the popular radio series of the same name. Directed by Reginald Le Borg and star ...

'' (1944), ''

Night of the Eagle Night, or nighttime, is the period of darkness when the Sun is below the horizon. Sunlight illuminates one side of the Earth, leaving the other in darkness. The opposite of nighttime is daytime. Earth's rotation causes the appearance of ...

'' (also known as ''Burn, Witch, Burn!'') (1962), and '' Witches' Brew'' (also known as ''Which Witch is Which?'') (1980). In 2019, the novel was awarded the "Retro" Hugo Award for Best Novel.

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 till 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 Pringle David Pringle (born 1 March 1950) is a Scottish science fiction editor and critic. Pringle served as the editor of '' Foundation'', an academic journal, from 1980 to 1986, during which time he became one of the prime movers of the collective whi ...

's '' Modern Fantasy: The 100 Best Novels'' and in ''Fantasy: The 100 Best Books'' by James Cawthorn and

Michael Moorcock Michael John Moorcock (born 18 December 1939) is an English writer, particularly of science fiction and fantasy, who has published a number of well-received literary novels as well as comic thrillers, graphic novels and non-fiction. He has wo ...

. In ''

The Encyclopedia of Fantasy ''The Encyclopedia of Fantasy'' is a 1997 reference work covering fantasy fiction, edited by John Clute and John Grant (author), John Grant. As of November 2012, the full text of ''The Encyclopedia of Fantasy'' is available online, as a compani ...

'',

David Langford David Rowland Langford (born 10 April 1953) is a British author, editor, and Literary criticism, critic, largely active within the science fiction field. He publishes the science-fiction fanzine and newsletter ''Ansible'' and holds the all-time ...

described it as "an effective exercise in the paranoid."

Damon Knight Damon Francis Knight (September 19, 1922 – April 15, 2002) was an American science fiction author, editor, and critic. He is the author of " To Serve Man", a 1950 short story adapted for ''The Twilight Zone''.Stanyard, ''Dimensions Behind ...

wrote

Anthony Boucher William Anthony Parker White (August 21, 1911 – April 29, 1968), better known by his pen name Anthony Boucher (), was an American author, critic, and editor who wrote several classic mystery novels, short stories, science fiction, and radio dr ...

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. ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' reviewer Basil Davenport noted it was marked by "real excitement".

Everett F. Bleiler Everett Franklin Bleiler (April 30, 1920 – June 13, 2010) was an American 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" s ...

found ''Conjure Wife'' to be "nicely handled as a suspense story, although Saylor's psychology is a little simplistic."

, ''The Guide to Supernatural Fiction'', Kent State University Press, 1983, p. 306

Publication

''Conjure Wife'' was originally published in the April 1943 volume of '' Unknown Worlds''. An "expanded and revised" version was published by

Twayne Publishers Gale is a global provider of research and digital learning resources. The company is based in Farmington Hills, Michigan, United States, west of Detroit. It has been a division of Cengage since 2007. The company, formerly known as Gale Research a ...

in its ''

Witches Three ''Witches Three'' is an anthology of three original fantasy stories, edited by the uncredited Fletcher Pratt and published in hardcover by Twayne in 1952. No further editions of the anthology were issued, but each of the stories was later republis ...

'' 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 Books Ace Books is a publisher of science fiction (SF) and fantasy books founded in New York City in 1952 by A. A. Wyn, Aaron A. Wyn. It began as a genre publisher of mystery fiction, mysteries and western (genre), westerns, and soon branched out int ...

, Tom Doherty Associates,

Penguin Books Penguin Books Limited is a Germany, German-owned English publishing, publishing house. It was co-founded in 1935 by Allen Lane with his brothers Richard and John, as a line of the publishers the Bodley Head, only becoming a separate company the ...

, and Award Publications.

References

External links

''Conjure Wife'' on Google Books

''Conjure Wife'' on Project Gutenberg
{{DEFAULTSORT:Conjure Wife 1943 American novels 1943 debut novels 1943 fantasy novels 1940s horror novels American fantasy novels adapted into films American horror novels Debut fantasy novels Debut horror novels Novels by Fritz Leiber Novels about witches and witchcraft Novels about marriage