Vous voulez voir cette page en français ? Cliquez ici.

5 used & new from CDN$ 33.95
See All Buying Options
Have one to sell? Sell yours here
 
 
Cheese And The Worms
 
 
Share your own customer images
Search inside another edition of this book

Cheese And The Worms (Paperback)

by Carlo Ginzburg (Author) "As frequently happens, this research, too, came about by chance ..." (more)
4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)

Available from these sellers.


1 new from CDN$ 215.34 4 used from CDN$ 33.95

Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought

Islands of History

Islands of History

by Marshall Sahlins
CDN$ 13.07
Space in the Tropics: From Convicts to Rockets in French Guiana

Space in the Tropics: From Convicts to Rockets in French Guiana

by Peter Redfield
CDN$ 33.75
The Return of Martin Guerre

The Return of Martin Guerre

by Natalie Zemon Davis
4.0 out of 5 stars (11)  CDN$ 16.43
The New Cultural History

The New Cultural History

by Lynn Hunt
3.5 out of 5 stars (2)  CDN$ 23.28
Silencing the Past: Power and the Production of History

Silencing the Past: Power and the Production of History

by Michel-Rolph Trouillot
4.5 out of 5 stars (4)  CDN$ 13.10
› Explore similar items

Product Details

Product Description

Product Description

This is a reissue of Carlo Ginzburg's book on the world-view of a 16th-century Italian miller, burnt at the stake as a heretic in 1599.
Inside This Book (Learn More)
Browse and search another edition of this book.
First Sentence
As frequently happens, this research, too, came about by chance. Read the first page
Explore More
Concordance
Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
Search inside this book:

Tag this product

 (What's this?)
Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organize and find favorite items.
Your tags: Add your first tag
 
See most popular tags

What do customers ultimately buy after viewing this item?

Cheese And The Worms
89% buy the item featured on this page:
Cheese And The Worms 4.2 out of 5 stars (11)
The Return of Martin Guerre
11% buy
The Return of Martin Guerre 4.0 out of 5 stars (11)
CDN$ 16.43
Explore similar items
 

Customer Reviews

11 Reviews
5 star:
 (7)
4 star:
 (1)
3 star:
 (1)
2 star:
 (2)
1 star:    (0)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.2 out of 5 stars (11 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most helpful customer reviews

 
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars Cheesy Worms?, Feb 20 2000
By David Fletcher - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: The Cheese and the Worms: The Cosmos of a Sixteenth-Century Miller (Paperback)
Carlo Ginzburg, author of CLUES, MYTHS, AND THE HISTORICAL METHOD (1989), THE ENIGMA OF PIERO: PIERODELLA FRANCESCA-THE BAPTISM, THE AREZZO CYCLE, THE FLAGELLATION (1988), and THE NIGHT BATTLES: WITCHCRAFT AND AGRARIAN CULTS IN THE SIXTEENTH AND SEVENTEENTH CENTURIES (1983), is professor of history at the University of Bologna and the University of California, Los Angeles. In his work The Cheese and the Worms, Ginzburg relates the story of a medieval miller of Friuli, Domenico Scandella, called Menocchio, who is put on trial for heresy during the Italian Inquisition. Ginzburg nicely recreates the experience of a medieval trial-something monotonous, seemingly endless, and without apparent utility-at least to moderns who generally suffer from a culture infused with impatient pragmatism. This relentless prodding of the inquisitors for answers to their hairsplitting questions, of Menocchio for meaning to his contemptible existence, and of Ginzburg for threads of connection between the trial proceedings and possible sources is laborious. Contemporary readers, except for specialists in cosmology, derivative theology, evolutionary anthropology, and late medieval history, likely will have little tolerance for such esoteric musings. As stated, Menocchio, an obscure miller who is nevertheless important to his local village, is on trial by Inquisition authorities for heresies which are numerous, fluid, and conflicting. Ginzburg's main objective, however, is to get at the sources for Menocchio's thinking, especially his bizarre cosmological view involving cheese and worms that are born in the cheese. Like a relentless detective, Ginzburg takes the reader into excursions, asides, and digressions. He explores written sources such as the Bible in the vernacular, the Koran, Sir John Mandeville's Travels, Dominican Albert da Castello's Il Lucidario della Madonna, and many others. He postulates an eclectic medieval oral tradition from which Menocchio might have gleaned his ideas. But all this chasing of sources makes the reader feel like the proverbial rat trapped in the maze. There are many variations of possibilities for escape, but there is no resolve. The discussion of oral versus written sources goes on and on. Yet one thing is certain. All oral tradition unless codified is unpredictable and not easily discernable. While a valid hypothesis concerning source material for Menocchio's religious ideas, oral tradition remains unverifiable. After all, the written codification of the oral tradition of Menocchio's trials is what Ginzburg found in the Archivio della Curia Arcivescovile of Udine, and this discovery sparked his writing The Cheese and the Worms. Furthermore, Menocchio's suggestion that he is a tabula rasa who simply creates these things in his own mind seems incredulous. That Ginzburg would take this seriously is all the more unbelievable. Menocchio is not unaffected by his environment which includes written sources, as Ginzburg so ably points out. With the question of the origin of Menocchio's ideas about origins aside, what is left to discuss? A Religionsgeschichtlich approach falls quick prey to quaint anthropological inquiries. This is what Ginzburg offers and little more. Perhaps more development of the Church hierarchy and the consternation of the peasant against his elite accusers by way of a sociological reading of religion in sixteenth century Italy would prove useful. But Ginzburg does little to develop this. His real concern is prodding the interaction of inquisitor, miller, and Menocchio's acquaintances in order to find out about "Cheese." When this is attributed to an ancient Indian myth in the Vedas, derived from residual medieval oral tradition, Ginzburg's work is done. No more is left to ascertain from Menocchio. There is no complete characterization of Menocchio-his family, his work, his accomplishments as mayor, his business dealings. These things are not explored, but these are what would make Menocchio come alive and would give contextual meaning to his religious ideas. Why Ginzburg does not broaden his research is unclear, but the failure to do so leaves Menocchio as a religious oddity, a heretic without significance, another faceless victim of an oppressive religious hierarchy. Perhaps Ginzburg is unable to draw a more complete likeness of Menocchio from the trial proceedings. Although the specialist might prefer to study the complete text of these trials, as exegete of Menocchio's hearings, Ginzburg is superb. As phenomenologist on this Friulian miller's religious thought, Ginzburg is without peer. But THE CHEESE AND THE WORMS can hardly be dubbed a serious Quellenforschung or traditionsgeschichte except for a very narrow slice of sixteenth century Italian history. Michael Hunter notes, "Few will be able to accept Ginzburg's general thesis, his argument that Menocchio gives expression to a lively and homogeneous peasant culture" (HISTORY 1981 66:296). Further, Bennett Hill suggests, "The general reader will find the style opaque and the results unexciting. [The book is] for research libraries" (LIBRARY JOURNAL 1980 105:1512). At best, Menocchio provides an illustration of "the ingenuity and determination of the human spirit in face of adverse circumstance" (see J. H. Elliott, THE NEW YORK REVIEW OF BOOKS 1980 27:38). At worst, Menocchio is just another heretic that follows a typical pattern with nothing exceptional, so Ginzburg (p. 112). To adapt an old cliche, when you've seen one heretic, you've seen them all.
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)



 
5.0 out of 5 stars Well written, fascinating tale, May 13 2002
By Professor Joseph L. McCauley "Joseph L. McCauley" (Austria+Texas) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   
This review is from: The Cheese and the Worms: The Cosmos of a Sixteenth-Century Miller (Paperback)
Description of a miller with an intresting ('modern') cosmological belief whose rebellion in thought is prosecuted by the Taliban of that time, the Roman Catholic Church. Forced to explain his nonAristotelian views (and, if Ginzburg is telling the truth, he responded extremely well to the inquisitors' questions!), the miller outwits his arrogant, narrow-minded judges and so wins the reward of torture and imprisonment, losing his wife, family, everything in the end. Galileo, who had a higher social position and powerful protectors, suffered no worse than house arrest, in comparison.
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)



 
5.0 out of 5 stars Keep this book in mind, Mar 4 2002
This review is from: The Cheese and the Worms: The Cosmos of a Sixteenth-Century Miller (Paperback)
Anytime you want to tell yourself that the Catholic Church isn't that bad, just keep this book in mind. It is just more proof that the church is the most corrupt institution in the history of time. . .with that in mind. The book is very interesting, it deals with the trial of a smart man at the time who was accused of heresy. So throughout the trial we begin to realize how well read this man is and how well he has developed his ideas. It is a good case study of the life of a common man in 1599.
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)


Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
 
 		 Most recent customer reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Groundbreaking historiographical analysis...
Having read the reviews already listed here, I believe the one major facet of this book has been downplayed. Dr. Read more
Published on Sep 19 2001

5.0 out of 5 stars A Historian's Historian
Everything that Carlo Ginzburg has ever written has always been groundbreaking and exhilirating. Here he uses Inquisition documents to describe and analyze the ideas of a common... Read more
Published on Jul 4 2001 by bohemund

3.0 out of 5 stars interesting case in realistic recreating of cultural history
This book presents an interesting case in realistic recreating of history; when the well-documented record of the 16th century Inquisition Trial are brought into scrutiny based on... Read more
Published on May 10 2001 by Boris Aleksandrovsky

5.0 out of 5 stars Reconstructing the reconstuction
This is a spectacular application of the clue-based evidentiary paradigm, in which Ginzburg pursues lead after lead in an effort to reconstruct the world view of an outspoken... Read more
Published on Feb 18 2001 by David Gibson

2.0 out of 5 stars Slipshod speculations of a doctrinaire thinker
Mr. Ginzburg's "The Cheese and the Worms" is destined to be enormously successful among young, undisciplined students who lack the discernment or the inclination... Read more
Published on Jan 28 2000 by S. Dougherty

4.0 out of 5 stars Terrific insight!
In the cheese and the worms, ginzburg gives terrific insight into how ones social status defines their belief system. Read more
Published on Jul 10 1999

5.0 out of 5 stars Historiography at its best!
Carlo Ginzburg was one of the first historians to put into practice anthropological ideas about culture as a historically transmitted system of meaning. Read more
Published on Dec 10 1998

5.0 out of 5 stars phenomenal
expertly intriguing, unparalleled, and remarkably spell-binding.........."The Cheese and The Worms" is a must-read book for everyone and anyone who loves great... Read more
Published on Nov 19 1998

Only search this product's reviews


Listmania!

Create a Listmania! list

Look for similar items by category

Look for similar items by subject











i.e., each book must be in subject 1 AND subject 2 AND ...

Feedback

Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?

Your Recent History

 (What's this?)

After viewing product detail pages or search results, look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages you are interested in.