Anne Larue's Banned Book on Wicca and Feminism Returns After Legal Battle

Anne Larue, a French academic known for works on feminism, Delacroix, Deleuze, and Duchamp, faced censorship from her publisher over her book on the Wicca religion in contemporary popular literature. The book was withdrawn but later reinstated after a legal dispute that brought her unexpected fame. The essay explores the figure of the wiccan—a witch belonging to a goddess-worshipping cult that emerged during the American New Age, tied to militant feminism and capitalist counterculture. Larue argues that feminine power has been systematically excluded from high culture. Today, the wiccan resurfaces in fantasy literature (The Mists of Avalon, Narnia), TV series (Charmed, Buffy), and video games. The legacy of Gerald Gardner, founder of Wicca, and Starhawk, its high priestess, bypasses the 1980s backlash through commodified avatars. The book reveals a crypto-feminist undercurrent subtly infiltrating contemporary imagination. By taking seriously this feminist subculture and popular practices like fan fiction, blogs, and B-movies, Larue reconnects with genuine subversion that still shakes moral and philosophical foundations. The review, by Magali Nachtergael, was published in artpress.