{"id":5341,"date":"2011-10-16T07:04:55","date_gmt":"2011-10-16T11:04:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/blog1\/2011\/10\/03\/"},"modified":"2011-10-16T07:04:55","modified_gmt":"2011-10-16T11:04:55","slug":"10-questions-with-claude-lecouteux","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/blog1\/?p=5341","title":{"rendered":"10 Questions with Claude Lecouteux"},"content":{"rendered":"

A little note here from me (Rebecca). Claude Lecouteux, in my opinion, is a certified bad ass. His book “The Return of the Dead: Ghosts, Ancestors, and the Transparent Veil of the Pagan Mind”<\/a> became an all-time favorite of mine as soon as I read it. In the two years since of doing book reviews “The Return of the Dead” is still one of my favorites to recommend. Lecouteux’s latest book, “Phantom Armies of the Night: The Wild Hunt and Ghostly Processions of the Undead” is simply amazing. I’d say go buy it now but I want you to stick around because it was my extremely giddy honor to get to interview Claude Lecouteux and I want everyone to read that. Seriously, like every single person ever, because I got to interview Claude Lecouteux!<\/p>\n

Crap, what did I actually set out here to say? Oh yeah. Claude Lecouteux is French and as such English is not his native language so some of the phrasing and use of language may seem “off”. Since the only French I know comes from the song “Lady Marmalade”, I was impressed at how good his answers came across. <\/em><\/p>\n

1. With previous books such as “Witches, Werewolves, and Fairies” and “The Return of the Dead” it seems like much of your work has now culminated in your new book “The Wild Hunt and Ghostly Processions of the Undead”. Is that the case?<\/strong><\/p>\n

It is not the case. The field of my research is so large that I was constrained to go step by step. \u201cThe Return of the Dead\u201d showed me the different facets of the believes connected with the death and the dead. This book was a first approach, the basis of my other investigations: I could not say and explain all the ramifications of the subject just in one book.<\/p>\n

In \u201cWitches, Werewolves, and Fairies” I found the answer to a question that bored me: what returns? A shape? A corpse? A soul in human form? The answer was the alter ego, the root of the believe in an external soul.<\/p>\n

The \u201cPhantom Armies of the Night\u201d explores the return of troops of dead and tries to show that we are confronted with a blend of different legends which roots are the believe in a life after the life, the dangers for the livings to meet such troops, what often involves an obligation, and a warning: don’t have an unsocial behaviour, don’t transgress the moral codex of the community.<\/p>\n

2. For readers unfamiliar with the term, could you describe what The Wild Hunt is?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Wild Hunt is a band of the dead whose passage over the earth at certain times of the year is accompanied by diverse phenomena. The leader of that Hunt is a giant or a devil or a warning rider. Unfortunately the Wild Hunt was confused with the legend of the Wild Hunter.<\/p>\n

3. How does The Wild Hunt differ from other troops of the dead or phantom armies that show up in folklore and mythology?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Wild Hunt differs from the other troops through its highly Christian character and through its message: be careful in all you act! A bad life involves the damnation, the members of the Hunt are sinners.<\/p>\n

4. With so many versions of The Wild Hunt and associated processions of the undead how did you go about sorting through all of it to find the definitive stories?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I search first the common points, then the sources of the differences, I compare all the testimonies I have found and analyze the part the Medieval church plays in the variations. A myth is the result of all its variations.<\/p>\n