A History of Private Life: Passions of the Renaissance

Rating:
Summary: The "Early Modern" Period
Review: And now volume three. My reviews of the first two books in this series have garnered a fat total of 0 votes, positive or negative, so I'll make this review brief.

This book charts the transistion from the middle ages to the beginnings of the modern period. In the introduction by Aries (who's scholarship is the inspiration for this project), he makes a claim that this time period deserves to be treated as a seperate "early modern" period. It's a noble thought, but the book reads more like one would expect: a lot of the middle ages and a little of modernity, but a lack of the coherence that one sees in volumes I, II and IV.

The authors are mostly concerned with discussing two (seemingly)contradictory trends: the attempt by families to develop "private space" and the attempt by the state to intrude on that private space. Chapter two deals mostly with the first statement, chapter three with the second.

You have to keep an open mind with the Annales school of scholarship. The writers favor open ended generalizations to conclusive statements and are just as interested in providing ideas for further study as they are in answering questions.



Rating:
Summary: not as good as the earlier volumes
Review: I had a much harder time getting into this volume than the two previous ones. It is far more limited geographically in that about 90% of it is about France and it is also edited rather poorly: many of the chapters are chock full of vague generalizations that require far more historical knowledge than I had to evaluate them (my failing, perhaps, but also an indication of the level of the book). Finally, many of the chapters were far less fun than the ones in the previous two volumes.

That being said, there are absolutely wonderful nuggets embedded throughout the book. This is, afterall, the era when the individual emerges en masse from the "community" mentality of the middle ages, as the absolutist state (and its embryonic legal system) replaces the more relationship-based bonds of feudal communties. This had innumerable consequences, including the development of public schools on a widespread basis and a sense of justice as administered by the state rather than by a feudal lord who demanded personal loyalty.

THere are also many episodes within this that make for great reading. For example, there is a whole chapter on the development of accepted manners for the middle classes and even below, based on those of the court but also on books on etiquette such as one written by Erasmus himself, which astounded me as I learned its various editions were influential for over 300 years on wuch topics as acceptable table manners. THere were also chapters on charivari - a kind of moralistic razzing of newlyweds that combined extortion and youthful exuberance, carried out as they were (sometimes for months) by amoral thugs! Even the notion of childhood - of the child having a distinctive personality with his/her own requirements and needs - was developed in this period. ANd of course, there is the growth of the practive of friendship by choice, so rare in the middle ages, rather than via kinship ties or feudal obligation, which had subordinated most feelings to the survival of the extended clan.

Nonetheless, these delightful chapters are buried in many dull and poorly written ones that were a terrible slog to get through. I was very disappointed by this, having loved the volumes on the ancient world and the middle ages. Perhaps it was marked by the death of the founding editor. I will try the later volumes, but worry they will not measure up. The title is also misleading: this volume is less about the Renaissance than what followed, that is, the period of religious wars and the development of absolutism.

REcommended to those willing to make the effort, but not for the casual reader.

Rating:
Summary: A Good Idea ...but drowned in florid speach.
Review: This book is a good idea. But there is room for litterature that can tell the same in a more lively way with far fewer words. ...or can tell four time as much with the same number of pages. - The language of most of the authors is such that you wonder WHY they have chocen to say what they attempt to tell in such flowery ways. After a paragraph it's hard to remember "What did he try to tell me now." It's easier to think: "Yes. I can see that you have learnt a hole lot of words, and adjevtives in particular." - I have found litterature about the same topic, put in a different language that manage to do this far better. In fact I've found public reports that with regards to the ability to convey a thought is far more readable.