The Exorcist is a horror novel by
William Peter Blatty, published by
Harper & Row in 1971. It is based on a 1949
exorcism of
Robbie Mannheim that Blatty heard about while he was a student in the class of 1950 at
Georgetown University, a
Jesuit and
Catholic school. On October 31, 2010,
Cemetery Dance will publish a special omnibus edition of
The Exorcist and its sequel
Legion, signed by Blatty.
Plot
An elderly Jesuit priest named Father Lankester Merrin is leading an archaeological dig in northern Iraq and studying ancient relics. Following the discovery of a small statue of the demon Pazuzu (an actual ancient Sumerian demigod) and a modern-day St. Joseph medal curiously juxtaposed together at the site, a series of omens alerts him to a pending confrontation with a powerful evil, which unknown to the reader at this point, he has battled before in an exorcism in Africa. Meanwhile, in Georgetown, a young girl named Regan MacNeil living with her famous actress mother, Chris, becomes inexplicably ill. After a gradual series of poltergeist-like disturbances, she undergoes disturbing psychological and physical changes, appearing to become "possessed" by a demonic spirit.
After several unsuccessful psychiatric and medical treatments, Regan's mother turns to a local Jesuit priest. ...
