The Return of Martin Guerre

Rating:
Summary: A look at Joe Everyman from southern France in 1560
Review: Davis gives us the story of how in the mid 16th century, a man named Arnaud du Tihl impersonated the long departed well-to-do peasant named Martin Guerre, took over his identity, his wife and family, and his property.

In itself, the story is interesting enough. What makes Davis's book special is her concise presentation of everyday life in the early renaissance (1560 is not in the Middle Ages, which ended about the time of Christopher Columbus 1492). We see village life, village institutions, we get a feel for what businesses the people ran (e.g. sheep for wool) we learn of legal procedures, of "dangerous new ideas" on marriage (from protestant influences) as well as inconvenient old one (secret marriages made without priests, nevertheless legitimate). We learn of differing customs on inheritance among different regions (the Basque and Gascon customs) of the role of women in public life.

The only problem I find with the book is that it is incomplete. We know what end Arnaud du Tihl meets, but we do not learn what happened after the trial to the real Martin Guerre or to his wife. Of course, the records are probably lost so we cannot fault Davis for this. But while we learn much of Jean Coras, the court official who published one of the two contemporary accounts of the case, a more detailed account of what befell him following the Martin Guerre case would have been interesting.

But that's a lack, not a flaw. Recommended!

Rating:
Summary: Stellar Writing
Review: Natalie Zemon Davis's The Return of Martin Guerre is the account of one of France's most infamous trials. In the 16th Century, a young man returned to his native home town after his long disappearence. Although his looks were slightly different, people accepted this man with open arms. He took the place of the old Martin Guerre, returning to his family and to his wife. But it is only later, when the real Martin Guerre returned and after some of the men in Guerre's family had become suspicious about the new Martin Guerre, that the other man was showned to be an impostor.

Written with intelligence and prose that is compelling yet never too simplistic, The Return of Martin Guerre is a fantastic historical account that should please historians and history lovers alike.

In the first pages, Davis tells us that some of her research is more heresay than anything else, since she tried to fill in the gaps where an answer could not be found. Maybe that's why the book reads more like a story than an actual factual account.

Davis recreates the whole town and the ways of life of 15th century France with care and skill. Every single character that peoples the book is fully dimensional and interesting. Her presentation of these people and of the facts is always impartial, which is surprising coming from someone who states that she's also using some of her own opinions and thoughts to fill in the gaps.

The Return of Martin Guerre is a great read that is full of facts, but where the information is never overwhelming. This is how every historical treatise should be like.

Rating:
Summary: Interesting Way to Write History
Review: This book is VERY interesting. Davis writes it as something between a novel and a serious historical text. As such you do have a narrative arch and a good consideration on the quality of the text; but at the same time she spends her time in placing caveats to the story she is writing. So we have at times "alternate" possibilities to what happened, and she certainly accepts a lack of climax in explaining some important later characters which historians have been better able to study.

Davis also seems to assume you have seen the movie of the same title (to which she consulted), and wrote the book as an appendix to the movie. Very fun.