This book, a new English translation of a classic work in Italian by Ernesto De Martino, is a fascinating exploration of ‘tarantism,’ its history and its final expressions in the late 1950s in the rural communities of Southern Italy. Tarantism is the name of an ‘illness’ supposedly provoked by the bite of a tarantula spider. After the ‘bite,’ the affected person (tarantolato) is listless and depressed until the rhythm of the tarantella moves him or her in a trance-like dance that can last for days. The tarantolato shows strong affinities for particular colors, smells, and sounds, and at moments can be mesmerized by them. Other features in the environment, on the other hand, can evoke strong hostilities that disrupt the precarious containment provided by the music, and they must be removed from the space of healing. The dance is a syncretism of various symbolic movements, selected by the tarantolato to discharge the alien affects injected into the body by the poisonous bite. The dance has erotic resonances and can be considered a cultural accommodation that allowed for vitality and sensuality within a society that was extremely oppressive, particularly of women's sexuality. It is not by chance that the tarantolate were mostly women, and that these women often had personal histories of rimorso (remorse) comprised of guilt for desiring something that was not allowed and anger turned against the self.

The rigidity of the cultural and social frameworks within the rural south of Italy where tarantism flourished explains why this ‘therapy’ did not work to change the fundamental conditions of the tarantolati or push them to discover new meanings to their existence. Its goal was to modulate the disrupted elements in their emotional lives, restore physical strength essential to their ability to work and survive, and reinstate the protective space of the religious values of the community. In fact, in the ritual form of the tarantella it was St. Paul, the sacred protector, who concluded the dances of the tarantolati by ‘speaking’ to the afflicted and finally healing them with his grace.

In his research, De Martino confirms what had already been established by medical doctors during the Enlightenment period, who observed that in most cases it was impossible to relate the symptoms of tarantism to an actual venomous infection. While these medical specialists in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries concluded that tarantism was an unfortunate consequence of ignorance and superstition, De Martino considers the ‘bite of the tarantula’ to be a symbolic key to a healing space that was culturally sanctioned and organized. He sees tarantism as an effective venue for expressing and partially resolving dynamic conflicts between the needs of individuals and the restrictions imposed by the material and cultural conditions of the society. Tarantism, for De Martino, is the “expression of a minor predominantly peasant religious formation#x02026” (p. xxi), with roots in the Pythagorean and Orphic rites of the ancient Greek colonies of southern Italy and a ritual organization originating in the Middle Ages in response to what may have been a real epidemic of poisonous tarantula bites.

In the foreword to the English translation, anthropologist Vincent Crapanzano finds “a striking parallel between tarantism and the exorcism of the North African religious brotherhoods such as the “Isawa, the Gnawa, and the Hamadsha” (xii). But he cautions against pushing the parallel too far—like De Martino, Crapanzano is interested in preserving the distinctions of each historical phenomenon while recognizing similarities and mutual influences.

The kind of anthropological study De Martino presents is dated, exhibiting a respectful but also hegemonic and paternalistic attitude. The text is strongly influenced by the assumptions of the writer, in this case De Martino's functional psychoanalytic and existentialist framework, and the voice of the subjects is ignored or utilized only in support of the writer's interpretation. Nonetheless, this is a very well written account of an important and fascinating subject, and it challenges readers to reflect upon questions of historical and anthropological method, and to develop more culturally sensitive and pluralistic perspectives on the culture of healing.