The Devils of Loudun

Now, you may know him as the author of Brave New World.

Well, in 1952, he publishes his book on this case titled The Devils of Loudun.

While the book is classified as nonfiction, the details of Huxley's book appear to be, uh, creatively assembled, so much so that the work goes on to inspire Ken Russell's 1971 film, The Devils, which earns an NC-17 rating and is either heavily edited or banned in several countries.

At any rate, Huxley's version is based on solid research.

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Our sources for today's episode include Michel de Certeau's The Possession at Loudun, translated by Michael B. Smith, The History of the Devils of Loudun, translated by Edmund Goldsmid, and Aldous Huxley's The Devils of Loudun.

Until next time, remember, the truth isn't always the best story, and the official story isn't always the truth.

A lot of the art direction done by Derek Jarman with Ken Russell.

And it was based on an Aldous Huxley novel called The Devils of Loudun.

Anyway, that's in a re-release that's playing now, and it's wild.

It's just wild, and I, I wouldn't take children, or, uh, you know, I wouldn't even take priests, although [laughs] if you have a priest friend.

[laughs] The Devils.

The Devils, and it's, uh, uh, uh, directed by Ken Russell, and it was based on a, a, a Aldous Huxley novel, The Devils of Loudun.

So there are actual...

It's based in historical fact, where, uh, all of these rather perverted, uh, priests and nuns were doing things in the name of God, but they were not godly things.

Yeah.

It is a largely historical account, uh, taken from a book called The Devils of Loudun by Aldous Huxley, which is a, a historical account of this, a sort of outbreak of religious fervor and persecution that took place in 17th century France all around this disgraced Catholic priest and this convent where there were, uh, you know, accusations of witchcraft and possession and, and, uh, it just spiraled into, well, violent madness.

[laughs] I watched, um, The Lighthouse recently for the first time-

Oh, yeah