Everybody Loves Satan!: The Chronicle of Young Satan, Chapter 5 • The Devil According to Mark Twain
About this episode
The episode explores Chapter 5 of 'The Chronicle of Young Satan', focusing on the character Philip Traum and his interactions in the village of Eseldorf.
Five weeks in Eseldorf and everybody loves Satan — which is turning out to be almost as much of a problem as if they hated him. Philip Traum has been charming the whole village, pulling a famously fat man out of a river without getting his clothes wet, refusing to fill out the standard form for strangers, and generally making things worse for everyone who is supposed to love someone else. The Witch Commission has not summoned Father Adolf for questioning, even though everyone watched him get possessed in the market square, because nobody wants to be the one to say it first — which is, Twain notes, exactly the cowardice they're criticizing the Commission for. We dig into a chapter that runs like a three-camera sitcom: Theodore's family is mid-conversation about Philip Traum when Lily's actual suitor Joseph Fox walks in, then Wilhelm Meidling — Margit's suitor and a man in open romantic freefall — walks in from the other direction, and then Satan himself shows up and Wilhelm grabs a butcher knife. The knife drops to the floor. For just a moment, something dangerous flashes in Satan's eyes. Then he tells everyone Wilhelm was only playing, sits down with him, and reconstructs all…
People in this episode
Host: TruStory FM
Topics covered
- Satan
- Mark Twain
- literature
- comedy
- possession
- romance
Keywords
- Satan
- Mark Twain
- Philip Traum
- Eseldorf
- possession
- romantic freefall
- Witch Commission
Mentioned in this episode
Books & works: The Chronicle of Young Satan
Places: Eseldorf
More episodes of The Devil's Details: The Evolution of the Devil through Art and Literature
- Getting Stoned with Satan: The Chronicle of Young Satan, Chapter 8 • The Devil According to Mark Twain
- If This Party Gets Any Livelier, a Funeral Might Break Out!: The Chronicle of Young Satan, Chapter 7 • The Devil According to Mark Twain
- A Whole New World: The Chronicle of Young Satan, Chapter 6 • The Devil According to Mark Twain
- It’s A Devil of a Time in Eseldorf: The Chronicle of Young Satan, Chapter 4 • The Devil According to Mark Twain
- Cats and Dogs! Living Together! Catholic Mass Hysteria!: The Chronicle of Young Satan, Chapter 3 • The Devil According to Mark Twain
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