Scan barcode
ecranheim's review against another edition
5.0
Who knew that the lives of 16th century French peasants could be more dramatic than an episode of keeping up with the kardashians?
tombomp's review against another edition
informative
3.25
"When I was a boy I saw the account of a trial of a strange event printed by Coras, a learned counsel in Toulouse, concerning two men who each passed himself off for the other. What I remember of it (and I remember nothing else) is that it seemed to me at the time that Coras had made the impersonation on the part of the one he deemed guilty to be so miraculous and so far exceeding our own experience and his own as judge, that I found a great deal of boldness in the verdict which condemned the man to be hanged. Let us (more frankly and more simply than the judges of the Areopagus, who when they found themselves hemmed in by a case which they could not unravel decreed that the parties should appear before them again a hundred years later) accept for a verdict a formula which declares, ‘The Court does not understand anything whatever about this case.'" - On Lameness by Michel de Montaigne
A slightly frustrating book, but it's unfair that I'm faulting it for the limited nature of the sources we have. It leaves you with many, many questions, none of which can possibly be answered. Why did the Guerres move from their original home? Why did Martin Guerre commit the petty familial theft that made him leave the village? Why did he take the journey he did? How did the impostor find out about his leaving and decide to act as him, all those years after he left? How did he convince people who'd known the real one that he was him and why did they fall for it? If he was known as a scoundrel in his original life, what made him turn over a new leaf? Did Pierre Guerre have doubts all along and was his accusation a cynical reaction to his accounting being investigated, or did some new evidence come to light? What caused the original sentence at the first court to come against the impostor? Was the evidence when taken to appeal truly so exculpatory of the impostor, or was that just part of turning it into a more miraculous story? Why did Martin Guerre return? Did he find out what was going on in advance? How on earth did husband and wife reconcile after decades apart when the wife had been with the impostor? No answers are possible outside best guesses. By the end I was a little disappointed but again it's just inevitable with the subject of the book, which is admittedly fascinating.
There were some other frustrations though. There's quite a few times she just uses French untranslated - logical if the audience is other French historians, but this seems to have been aimed at a slightly wider audience. There's often quite a bit of just listing names and places which is important but I sort of just glossed over. On a more major structural level, I felt that the 2 texts that are the sources of the narrative should have been brought in and quoted directly more often. It's often a little unclear what she's basing things on and, although she adds contextual detail, I sometimes felt like I'd rather just read the original narratives with all their issues and biases. Although she might fix some issues by reading them critically, she's still imposing her own narrative of what happened like they were, and I'm not sure hers is better exactly. Very difficult question though, and an issue that's inevitable in a project like this. It was an interesting read, just a difficult subject.
A slightly frustrating book, but it's unfair that I'm faulting it for the limited nature of the sources we have. It leaves you with many, many questions, none of which can possibly be answered. Why did the Guerres move from their original home? Why did Martin Guerre commit the petty familial theft that made him leave the village? Why did he take the journey he did? How did the impostor find out about his leaving and decide to act as him, all those years after he left? How did he convince people who'd known the real one that he was him and why did they fall for it? If he was known as a scoundrel in his original life, what made him turn over a new leaf? Did Pierre Guerre have doubts all along and was his accusation a cynical reaction to his accounting being investigated, or did some new evidence come to light? What caused the original sentence at the first court to come against the impostor? Was the evidence when taken to appeal truly so exculpatory of the impostor, or was that just part of turning it into a more miraculous story? Why did Martin Guerre return? Did he find out what was going on in advance? How on earth did husband and wife reconcile after decades apart when the wife had been with the impostor? No answers are possible outside best guesses. By the end I was a little disappointed but again it's just inevitable with the subject of the book, which is admittedly fascinating.
There were some other frustrations though. There's quite a few times she just uses French untranslated - logical if the audience is other French historians, but this seems to have been aimed at a slightly wider audience. There's often quite a bit of just listing names and places which is important but I sort of just glossed over. On a more major structural level, I felt that the 2 texts that are the sources of the narrative should have been brought in and quoted directly more often. It's often a little unclear what she's basing things on and, although she adds contextual detail, I sometimes felt like I'd rather just read the original narratives with all their issues and biases. Although she might fix some issues by reading them critically, she's still imposing her own narrative of what happened like they were, and I'm not sure hers is better exactly. Very difficult question though, and an issue that's inevitable in a project like this. It was an interesting read, just a difficult subject.
readingsitaaras's review against another edition
informative
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Read this for a history course and I'm glad I did cause I was thoroughly INVESTED in this book. Natalie Zemon Davis weaves together the pieces of this historical moment so well, delivering writing that was neither stale nor boring like history books can tend to be.
mbates185's review against another edition
informative
fast-paced
2.5
While the events recounted in the book are intriguing, I didn’t enjoy how the book was written. There was a lot of speculation with little to no support for these ideas given and the story itself seemed stretched thin despite the low page count (the last 25% of the book is discussing the various written accounts of the trial, which I had very little interest in at that point). However, it is worth reading if you have interest in this extraordinary historical case.
aliceboule's review against another edition
3.0
Natalie Zemon Davis takes this iconic French 'folktale' and unravels the mystery from it.
Martin Guerre, comes back to his village after having left it for years, before it is discovered that he is fact not Martin Guerre but an imposter.
This is unlikely but true story is incredible in that Davis uses nothing but facts and it retains its moviesque appeal.
A must read for historians and definitely would recommend for non-historians to read as well.
Martin Guerre, comes back to his village after having left it for years, before it is discovered that he is fact not Martin Guerre but an imposter.
This is unlikely but true story is incredible in that Davis uses nothing but facts and it retains its moviesque appeal.
A must read for historians and definitely would recommend for non-historians to read as well.
breesahh's review against another edition
4.0
i loved this for class! really showed me an intro to microhistory and how historians can piece together accounts to a novel! shows creativity