The funniest thing that ever happened in the printing shop of Jacques Vincent, according to a worker who witnessed it, was a riotous massacre of cats. Full title:The Great Cat Massacre and Other Episodes in French Cultural History. Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read. Unfortunately, while the first chapter was fun and the second was interesting, the book went downhill from there. At any rate, I thought of it on and off but never got around to it, and then a friend gave me a copy when culling their library of extraneous books. Summary of Scholarship -- The Great Cat Massacre: and Other Episodes in French Cultural History (First Vintage Edition: New York, 1985) was Robert Darnton’s attempt to uncover the mentalities or “popular consciousness” of the 18 th century French Third Estate. Just a moment while we sign you in to your Goodreads account. It is the story of vengeance of some ill fed journeymen at the face of their bourgeoisie master’s attitude. Top Tag’s. Two main comments: (1) cultural history is the best history EVER, and (2) the French are really sick, twisted weirdos -- or at least they were in all their history. I thought it was enjoyable and interesting but then I love this sort of investigative history. But this was NOT the same massacre of the title (sadly, the essay recounts the many cruelties humans have inflicted on our feline friends throughout history, and not only in France). Could the printers really have killed the cats because they wanted to make their master miserable in order to make him an associate, and to thus restore a mystical past when masters and workers worked side by side and ate at the same table? But this contribution, along with Natalie Zemon Davis’ “The Return of Martin Guerre” and Carlo Ginzburg’s “The Cheese and the Worms,” is essential in introducing a more egalitarian, social, “bottom-up” history that emphasizes regular people. There are no discussion topics on this book yet. Tags. Book Reviews The Great Cat Massacre and Other Episodes in French Cultural History. academic integrity white privilege who am i poems national honor society allegory of the cave sociological imagination health social issue expository essay world war 1 critical freedom philosophy causal. The Great Cat Massacre: And Other Episodes in French Cultural History: Books - Amazon.ca. The Great Cat Massacre. I heard about this book a long time ago, probably in the context of a university history subject that was attempting to give students an overview of different ways of approaching the writing of history; it was preparatory to undertaking Honours. The book's title is derived from its most famous chapter which describes and interprets an unusual source detailing the "massacre" of cats by apprentice printers living and working … Refresh and try again. Noté /5. These are some of the provocative questions the distinguished Harvard historian Robert Darnton answers The Great Cat Massacre, a kaleidoscopic view of European culture during in what we like to call "The Age of Enlightenment." The article profiles American cultural historian and academic librarian Robert Darnton in 2012. Textbook for a French Revolution class I'm taking. Essentially an attempt to recreate the mindset of the French proletariat and petit bourgeoisie during the 18th century. Skip to main content. His novel Liberation Square is a mystery thriller set in Soviet-occupied London. Search Pages. Share your thoughts Complete your review. Search Categories . Do social conditions determine popular beliefs? It's common to think we would act the same in these circumstances, but in reality, we probably would not, since our personalities have been so embedded in our social-cultural context that to be dropped in another would be a shock. It was probably mentioned by Peter McPhee, discussing the idea of cultural history. It focuses on different documents originating from different environments so as to present the worldview from several perspectives. The Great Cat Massacre book. This is my second reading of this book, which I picked up after a really great history class in which we studied (among other things) fairy tales that were told by the peasant class and what we could learn from them. Amazon.ae: The Great Cat Massacre: And Other Episodes in French Cultural History: Darnton, Robert: Viking Be the first to ask a question about The Great Cat Massacre. By Robert Darnton. Read 7 reviews from the world's largest community for readers. Very worth reading. Plus, the fairy tales were wonderfully odd and interesting (okay, and quite disturbing). Reviews the book 'The Great Cat Massacre and Other Episodes in French Cultural History,' by Robert Darnton. This is a very engaging read about some little known moments of history that contributed to Britain being the nation it is today. 9 December 2020. ROBERT DARNTON. Its a little different than the version you may have been told. A review of reviews of Robert Darnton's The Great Cat Massacre: and Other Episodes in French Cultural History. Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read. This is a great way of looking at history, as it shows how so many events that seem destined in hindsight were actually flukes. This is collection of essays, albeit all serving a common purpose, and it would be sufficiently interesting to write a review discussing any one of them. Read this for an undergrad history course. people who have not read a lot of history. A classic of European history, it is an essential starting point for understanding Enlightenment France. His vision of the historical process as one of finding jokes you don't get and reading until they're comprehensible is certainly appealingly humanistic. Very readable and witty history book, for a non-specialist. This is one of the first history books I read for pleasure. Rate it * You Rated it * 0. One has to trace the evidence of their lives, as people who didn't read or write didn't exactly leave diaries or letters. The rating is for the first essay alone. Really well written, although a bit long-winded at times, as if the author had way too much research to actually compress into a readable article and had to laundry-list the information at times to squeeze it all in. To see what your friends thought of this book, The Great Cat Massacre: A History of Britain in 100 Mistakes. the great cat massacre. Refresh and try again. Read The Great Cat Massacre book reviews & author details and more at … “To eat one's fill, eat until the exhaustion of the appetite, was the principal pleasure that the peasants dangled before their imagination, and one that they rarely realized in their lives. … And overall, it was very good. Also difficult to ignore the charm of his storytelling. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of, Published Historiographically speaking, the Great Cat Massacre is "old news": The profession has long since embraced the "pastness of the past" and sent its leading practitioners plunging into the archives to discover what was so "other" about the lost mentalités of 18th century French journeymen, 17th century pirates, &c. Nevertheless, the titular essay retains much of its original luster, given the high entertainment value of the story that's being examined (a massacre of cats, most notably the favorite cat "la grise," undertaken by printmakers to spite their mean old master) as well as the general information Darnton presents about how various animals were brutalized during folk rituals and religious festivals. The name of the book comes from a "Great Cat Massacre" which was used as a form of sexual slander, and which is completely incomprehensible to the modern way of thought. Thus the book starts with peasants' Mother Goose rhymes, goes on to urban workers (the cat massacre), and to the philosophers' encyclopaedia, via a captivating chapter based on police reports. When the apprentices of a Paris printing shop in the 1730's held a series of mock trials and then hanged all the cats they could lay their hands on, why did they find it so hilariously funny that they choked with laughter when they reenacted it in pantomime some twenty times? We haven't found any reviews in the usual places. We hear of heroic deeds and visionary. The Great Cat Massacre and Other Episodes in French Cultural History. The Great Cat Massacre consists of the analysis of six cultural artefacts, all from eighteenth-century France, layered by social group of origin and level of sophistication. In this subject, I am part of the popular market, and this book did not work that well for me. Some of the studied documents show a wish and need to organize reality, to make sense of things (the description of Montpellier, the inspector's files, the Discourse), while the others show a way of coping with a hostile world (tales or killing cats). New York: Basic Books, 1999 XIII + 298. I really enjoy the comic way this book has been written. New York: Basic Books, 1984. His journalism covers social affairs, travel, architecture, arts and health. Robert Darnton. Often the history we learn at school is only half the story. Interesting - but I feel like some of the ‘meanings’ behind the cat-killings are a bit of a stretch? It’s a little different than the version you may have been told. by Vintage, The Great Cat Massacre and Other Episodes in French Cultural History. Fast and free shipping free returns cash on … The moments are wittily and entertainingly told, although some explanations and conclusions seemed. The book contains five chapters loosely interwoven around an attempt to carve out this special niche in historiography. Thanks! Two stars for the effort. This is an enterprise in ethnographic history. David E. Apter Yale University When sociologists discover history they tend to do it in a big way. But overall a terrific study of how people saw their own world. Most history of the early modern period written more than a generation ago was what Robert Darnton identifies as “top-down” history: it is the history of royalty, nobles, and the intellectual elites whose ideas largely defined the times. 9: III. Did they really massacre the cats in order to sexually shame the mistress (as cats were seen as a symbol of female sexuality)? Read "The Great Cat Massacre And Other Episodes in French Cultural History" by Robert Darnton available from Rakuten Kobo. Amazon.in - Buy The Great Cat Massacre book online at best prices in India on Amazon.in. Top Tag’s. Read Book Review: The Great Cat Massacre by Robert Darnton. I suspect the real market is college students assigned this book for a class. There’s also a chapter on how police kept tabs on writers and one on Diderot, both of which I found less insightful. New York: Basic Books, 1984. But screw those people, I dug it. Pp. Words . Contents. A fairly interesting book full of stories showing how small things can have major & often completely unintended consequences. What did the anonymous townsman of Montpelier have in mind when he kept an exhaustive dossier on all the activities of his native city? When the apprentices of a Paris printing shop in the 1730's held a series of mock trials and then ha Could the printers really have killed the cats because they wanted to make their master miserable in order to make him an associate, and to thus restore a mystical past when masters and workers worked side by side and ate at the same table? February 12th 1985 Its approach is fascinatingly different. Gareth Rubin is a British journalist and author. “The peasant of early modern France inhabited a world of step-mothers and orphans, of inexorable, unending toil, and of brutal emotions, both raw and repressed.The human condition has changed so much since then that we can hardly imagine the way it appeared to people whose lives really were nasty, brutish, and short. The author,a historian, borrows from anthropology in an attempt to reconstruct the view of the world of the 18th century Frenchman. If she told us more about it, I don't remember but it caused me to pick this book up at the used book store. In The Great Cat Massacre: and other Episodes in French Cultural History (1984), historian Robert Darton attempted to reconstruct and understand the mental world of early modern French peasants through their folktales. The pranksters carry out their master plan by killing the Cats and then staging a mock trial. I learned three things: [Other expats - Americans mostly - will join in enthusiastically and with luck will offer their services as vet. I mean possibly... but Darnton doesn’t even mention more ‘simple’ reasons why the printers could have killed the cats; for example, that they hated them with a passion because they howled all night which prevented them from going to sleep. great cat massacre. The Great Cat Massacre: And Other Episodes in French Cultural History. British snobbishness like American racism is something innate in rather lot of the expat population. "Ross-shire," one called down, but the porter heard "Russia." This is why we need to reread Mother Goose.”, Los Angeles Times Book Prize for History (1984), National Book Critics Circle Award Nominee for General Nonfiction (1984), What is the author's main claim, and how does he prove it? Probably a bit biased going into it, having absorbed much of the criticism against it by cultural osmosis, but a very interesting read. 75: 7 other sections not shown. He began with the story of Little Red Riding Hood as told around firesides in peasant cottages during long winter evenings in eighteenth-century France. If you love cats, don't read book's eponymous chapter, just skip right over it and read the rest. The eponymous cat massacre is a kind of violent charivari that tells of the living conditions of urban artisans in the print trade and surely provided a basis for Parrot in the Peter Carey novel. Search Categories . Do social conditions determine popular beliefs? I spent a couple of hours reading the first two chapters and gave this book up. The Great Cat Massacre Review The Great Cat Massacre entails understanding history differently. [I love this book already and I definitely love the author. This is an enterprise in ethnographic history. The various incidents are grouped together in eight chapters by similar subject, each incident ranging from a couple of paragraphs to a couple of pages thus being readable in bite-sized chunks. $17.95. Welcome back. The fifth chapter is nearly incomprehensible if you don't know your Locke and Acquinas, to be able to follow Darnton's points. The first chapter was interesting and had me hooked on the idea of the "otherness" of people in the past. But this contribution, along with Natalie Zemon Davis The Return of Martin Guerre and Carlo Ginzburgs The Cheese and the Worms, is essential in introducing a more egalitarian, social, bottom-up history that emphasizes regular people. (The Great Cat Massacre plays at the Kraine Theater, 85 East 4th Street, through March 4, 2018. Did they really massacre the cats in order to sexually shame the mistress (as cats were seen as a symbol of female sexuality)? It is a rather exotic journey. Words. Start by marking “The Great Cat Massacre: A History of Britain in 100 Mistakes” as Want to Read: Error rating book. Darnton's The Great Cat Massacre, though it's not entirely new (first published: 1985), surely represents a landmark in cultural history. But after reading The Great Cat and Dog Massacre: The Real Story of World War Two’s Unknown Tragedy by local author Hilda Kean I’m more mindful of what it was like. I think Darnton goes a bit far in his eagerness to counter prevailing materialist perceptions of the French Revolution, but this is absolutely a useful corrective to an often- prevailing oversimplification of class dynamics and reduction of history to a compilation of statistics, which peaked as a trend just before this was published. This is a re-read, I read it before in college as a beautiful example of historical social research/anthropology. to. Try Prime EN Hello, Sign in Account & Lists Sign in Account & Lists Returns & Orders Try Prime Cart. Why in the 18th century version of "Little Red Riding Hood" did the wolf eat the child at the end? Tell readers what you thought by rating and reviewing this book. As a way to take revenge on their masters who treated even their cats better than them, two apprentices organized the “biggest felinicide in French history.” After convincing … You've already shared your review for this item. And so began a rumor that led to Germany losing World War I. Of course, we know millions of people died in the war. We’d love your help. Also difficult to ignore the charm of his storytelling. Just a moment while we sign you in to your Goodreads account. August 1st 2014 A careful and rather long-winded examination of fairy tales throws light on the living conditions of peasants under the Old Regime. To see what your friends thought of this book, The Great Cat Massacre: And Other Episodes in French Cultural History. So I read it today. He began with the story of “Little Red Riding Hood” as told around firesides in peasant cottages during long winter evenings in eighteenth-century France. Given the peculiarities of the Irish educational system, at the end of 10th grade there was a forced choice between physics and history, so my formal study of history ended when I was 14. “I was completely riveted, not least by what The Great Cat And Dog Massacre tells you about our unexpectedly ambivalent attitudes towards animals.” Literary Review “Kean’s book, which has some excellent illustrations, insightful anecdotes, and shrewd analysis, lists the ways in which domestic animals both suffered in the war and also contributed to the war effort.” The moments are wittily and entertainingly told, although some explanations and conclusions seemed a bit too convenient and simplistic, and there is a slightly smug, almost condescending tone, to some of them which somewhat annoyed me. The Great Cat Massacre and Other Episodes in French Cultural History is an influential collection of essays on the cultural history of early modern France by the American historian Robert Darnton, first published in 1984. Books + Reviews . The Great Cat Massacre with out a doubt has one of the most unusual titles ever created especially for a book about history. I have re-read it several times over the past 30 years and still enjoy it. Published: 9:00 AM . to. Bill Gates Picks 5 Good Books for a Lousy Year. We are currently reviewing your submission. Robert Darnton challenges the widely held assumption that cultural systems derive from social orders, and takes the beetle's eye view, picking out quirky sources that reveal the viewpoint of the 'native', dissecting what they say to then draw conclusions about the world they lived in. Close . Start by marking “The Great Cat Massacre: And Other Episodes in French Cultural History” as Want to Read: Error rating book. Buy The Great Cat Massacre: And Other Episodes in French Cultural History by Darnton, Robert online on Amazon.ae at best prices. There were two of them: Jerome, the somewhat fictionalised version of Contat … that one does not precisely flow into the other, and understanding society does not necessarily mean that you will understand its culture. The author,a historian, borrows from anthropology in an attempt to reconstruct the view of the world of the 18th century Frenchman. Search Pages. I was happy to be rid of it at the time - my brain did fine with analytical stuff like science and languages, but history was just too unruly to get a handle on and it always brought down my grade average. Darnton is one of the seventies scholars who have been delving into the lives of ordinary folks, a difficult task as there is relatively little written record. Diderot's encyclopedia is another great moment from the book. I read this for the essay on Perrault. the great cat massacre Essay Examples. It’s heart-warming to know that a man and a dog were rescued from The Swan Inn’s bombed out ruin. The Great Cat Massacre: And Other Episodes in French Cultural History Robert Darnton Limited preview - 2009. Retrouvez The Great Cat Massacre: And Other Episodes in French Cultural History et des millions de livres en stock sur Amazon.fr. It's amazing how Britain became such a powerhouse despite all the incompetence throughout the centuries. Second, it's an accout of a cat massacre by some journeymen. It focuses on different documents originating from different environments so as to present the worldview from several perspectives. Life as an apprentice was hard, he explained. The story went as follows: Interesting - but I feel like some of the meanings behind the cat-killings are a bit of a stretch? It is written in the style of a popular history book for the general public. Great cultural history vignettes that reveal the mentality of different stripes of people in 18th century France. First Edition. Carl H. Pforzheimer University Professor and Director of the Harvard University Library. 33 Issue 2, p34 . great cat massacre Essay Examples. It isn't just that it is hugely entertaining. Proceeds through six chapters, each an essay on a different aspect of Old Regime France: peasant folklore, artisan printer's guilds, a bourgeoisie trying to organize his world, a police inspector keeping tabs on the philosophes, D'Alembert organizing a tree of knowledge the undercuts Catholic authority, and Rousseau writing an epistolary novel that changed how readers relate to fiction. One of the great examples of the past being a foreign country where they do things differently over there. And, of course, at age 14 it was completely impossible to think of it as anything but useless. Few people however are aware of events around which The Great Cat and Dog Massacre is pivoted, the destruction of 400,000 cats and dogs in the four days of September 1939 as the Second World War began. The book takes its title from a … A bourgeois gentilhomme's ordered description of Montpellier is analysed to show the difference between symbolic demonstrations of status and how that status was perceived by the educated man in the street. The Great Cat Massacre And Other Episodes In French Cultural History Robert Darnton Snippet view - 1984. The next. Achetez et téléchargez ebook The Great Cat Massacre: And Other Episodes in French Cultural History (English Edition): Boutique Kindle - 18th Century : Amazon.fr And so began a rumor that led to Germany losing World War I. Darnton focuses on the narrowly particular, or appears to … Though I read this for a class, I found most of the material rather interesting and thought-provoking. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of, Published Reviews; Essay Examples; Order now; Home. xii + 298. This review is for the 2nd chapter alone - the titular essay (+ the introduction) which i read as the focus of an essay for a history course lmao, Historiographically speaking, the Great Cat Massacre is "old news": The profession has long since embraced the "pastness of the past" and sent its leading practitioners plunging into the archives to discover what was so "other" about the lost mentalités of 18th century French journeymen, 17th century pirates, &c. Nevertheless, the titular essay retains much of its original luster, given the high entertainment value of the story that's being examined (a massacre of cats, most notably the. History book, the Great Examples of the 18th century version of `` Red! Book full of stories showing how small things can have major & often completely consequences! And quite disturbing ) do it in a big way Enlightenment France of it as but. Review for this item is an essential starting point for understanding Enlightenment France Books Amazon.ca! 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