What makes the witch still so compelling to our imaginations? How does the clown reach through our tears to our laughter?

The witch gives us a picture of power in the feminine, of feminine intellect and spirit, primordial in its force, authoritative in its wisdom. The clown gives us a picture of the soft feeling hidden within the masculine, which men must turn to, receive, and embrace.

The Ulanovs explore these figures in a unique way-not as mere literary, anthropological, or historical themes, but in terms of what they mean to people in the actual living of their lives, in...