The Return of Martin Guerre | 
 enlarge | Author: Natalie Zemon Davis
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Category: Book
List Price: $18.50
Buy Used: $1.96
You Save: $16.54 (89%)
New (34) Used (104) Collectible (3) from $1.96
Avg. Customer Rating:  19 reviews
Sales Rank: 19067
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 176
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 9.4 x 6.1 x 0.5
ISBN: 0674766911
Dewey Decimal Number: 345.440263
EAN: 9780674766914
ASIN: 0674766911
Publication Date: July 1984
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Condition: Ships within 24-hours, Monday-Friday. Your satisfaction guaranteed.
|
| Also Available In:
|
| Similar Items:
|
| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
The Inventive Peasant Arnaud du Tilh had almost persuaded the learned judges at the Parlement of Toulouse, when on a summer's day in 1560 a man swaggered into the court on a wooden leg, denounced Arnaud, and reestablished his claim to the identity, property, and wife of Martin Guerre. The astonishing case captured the imagination of the Continent. Told and retold over the centuries, the story of Martin Guerre became a legend, still remembered in the Pyrenean village where the impostor was executed more than 400 years ago. Now a noted historian, who served as consultant for a new French film on Martin Guerre, has searched archives and lawbooks to add new dimensions to a tale already abundant in mysteries: we are led to ponder how a common man could become an impostor in the sixteenth century, why Bertrande de Rols, an honorable peasant woman, would accept such a man as her husband, and why lawyers, poets, and men of letters like Montaigne became so fascinated with the episode. Natalie Zemon Davis reconstructs the lives of ordinary people, in a sparkling way that reveals the hidden attachments and sensibilities of nonliterate sixteenth-century villagers. Here we see men and women trying to fashion their identities within a world of traditional ideas about property and family and of changing ideas about religion. We learn what happens when common people get involved in the workings of the criminal courts in the ancien regime, and how judges struggle to decide who a man was in the days before fingerprints and photographs. We sense the secret affinity between the eloquent men of law and the honey-tongued village impostor, a rare identification across class lines. Deftly written to please both the general public and specialists, The Return of Martin Guerre will interest those who want to know more about ordinary families and especially women of the past, and about the creation of literary legends. It is also a remarkable psychological narrative about where self-fashioning stops and lying begins.
|
| Customer Reviews: Read 14 more reviews...
 Intriguing and well researched January 10, 2008
This companion volume to the film (it was written as that, expressly) can be read and enjoyed by someone who's never seen that film. That would be me, as it happens.
A 16th Century peasant named Martin Guerre abandons his wife and child, and disappears from his home area completely for many years. When a man arrives in their village claiming to be the long absent Martin, and knowing details about his life there, his family decides that the physical differences they see must be due to the time that's passed. After all, the Martin who went away was no more than a youth. Eventually, though, Martin's uncle makes up his mind that this man is an imposter. Bertrande de Rols, Martin's wife, finds herself in an awkward position because the suit is filed in her name. Yet she has lived with "Martin" for several years since his return, and has borne him more children. Can she really have been so mistaken? Was she aware from the beginning, but chose to participate in the deception? Or is this man truly Martin Guerre, despite what his uncle and others now say? Into the midst of the legal proceedings walks a man with a wooden leg. A man who says that he is the true Martin Guerre, come home at last after hearing that an imposter has taken his place. Taken his wife, and his inheritance.
That's the story. The author makes no attempt at suspense, assuming that most of her readers know it already. The book's purpose is not to tell Martin Guerre's tale; rather, it's to illuminate it. With careful research into the customs of the time and place, and equally carefully analysis of accounts published not long after the events took place, the author makes sense out of the characters and their behavior in a way that isn't possible without such background. The roles of women and men in their society, the way economic and legal systems functioned, and the tension between Roman Catholicism and ascendant Protestantism all play their parts in motivating Martin, Bertrande, and the story's other actors. A fascinating piece of work, especially in its final chapters with their explanation of how publishing operated during the time when contemporary (or at least relatively contemporary) accounts of Martin Guerre's case were created.
The Return of Martin Guerre January 5, 2008
The Return of Martin Guerre is a great book because it is very well reserched and is a very easy read for people who are not familar with the history of France. At times the book becomes dry but overall it is a wonderfully compelling story. The story of Martin Guerre seems almost unreal if it did not have historical proof behind it. The story sounds like something out of a hollywood movie which makes the story very compelling. The movie of the same title is great but read the book before seeing the movie. Together they give a great understanding of France during this period
 Stellar historical novel! September 13, 2007
This is a well-written and well-researched historical work. The book needs all the requirements for academic writing, yet actually manages to be readable! Shocking thought, right? This is definitely worth the time to read! As a note there is a movie version, in French, that is actually quite well done (Davis consulted on it) and knock off US version set in the Civil War (Sommersby), which sucks.
Davis explores the trial of Martin Guerre in medieval France. Guerre runs off to war and deserts his wife and son. Years later, a man appears claiming to be Guerre. The town and his wife accept this man with few complaints. Then, all of sudden, Guerre's family accuses this man of not really being Martin Guerre. The trial ensues with Martin's wife (Bertrande) standing staunchly by that this IS her husband. In the final bit, just as the courts are about to believe Bertrande and "Martin," another Martin appears - the real Martin. The imposter (Arnaud du Tilh) is hung and Bertrande goes back to her "real" husband. The story reads like it should be fiction - and a soap opera at that - yet it is a historical trial. Davis' sources come straight from the trial transcripts and the one of the judges. She even includes a chapter that explores this at the end (this is probably the hardest to read for a casual reader).
Davis does a beautiful job of recreating the era and the people, especally Bertrande. Bertrande can be easily pushed aside in this story, yet it is her story that Davis highlights.
I use this book in my western civilization classes because it really showcases the "normal" people of medieval France. It is definitely worth the time to read. If you want to enjoy a book AND learn something, this is the book for you. It also makes a great present to budding young historians.
Great "Micro- History," a new genre in history December 17, 2006
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
At first, Natalie Davis collaborated with the director Daniel Vigne on his film, but she became dissatisfied by how many elements of the story never made it into the movie. Her book adds specific details she thought central to the story; such as, the Guerre's Basque roots, Bertrande first meeting Arnaud du Tilh at an inn outside of the village, and Bertrande's reasons for collaborating with the imposter. Davis' story affords her audience a rare glimpse into the world of peasant life in sixteenth century France. Historically, there are only a few times when the everyday lives of the lower social classes receive comment in history or literature. Students of the humanities have only a few primary source books to examine. The Domesday Book is a collection of census records from eleventh century England. The Canterbury Tales are a fourteenth century collection of tales describing the lives of religious pilgrims in England, authored by Geoffrey Chaucer. The Decameron is also a fourteenth century collection of stories, this time from Italy, written by Giovanni Boccaccio.
Davis' story focuses on Bertrande de Rols and her place in sixteenth century society, especially as a wife. Bertrande was married to Martin Guerre who was a young peasant of Basque heritage. Both Bertrande and Martin were in their early teens during a time when marriage customs for peasants was changing in Europe. For several years, these two very young kids have trouble consummating their marriage. Davis speculates that Bertrande may have been happy with this circumstance since it gave her a chance to enjoy adolescence and be free of the drudgery of motherhood and all the duties that went with it. This becomes evident by the fact that she refuses to annul her marriage at her parent's insistence. A few years go by before Bertrande conceives and gives birth to a son - her first foray into adulthood. Davis explains how Bertrande, like other peasant women, became even more aware of the male dominated world in which she lived. This is evident by the particle "de" in her name, which was a custom in the area where she lived depicting the social and legal connection female peasants had to the men in their families. She was subordinate to her father, her husband, and finally her widowed mother and her uncle turned stepfather. Frances and Joseph Geis illuminate in detail the customs of family and marriage during this time in history. During the Middle Ages, most peasants did not have formal marriage vows conducted in church. Instead, they vowed to each other to live as common law husband and wife. Formality was not necessary since peasants did not own property; they worked the lands of the nobility as tenant farmers. Marital mores change in the sixteenth century due to the peasant's ability to own land, which in turn causes parents to insist on having more control over their children's marital choices.
In 1548, Martin runs away from his village of Artigat, France to join the army, leaving his twenty-two year old wife Bertrande and a young son. His abandonment severely reduces Bertrande's social standing in the village. She is no longer a full-fledged wife, nor is she a widow who had property rights. Without a body to prove Martin is dead, she cannot divorce him; thus, she is stuck with her plight. She has to move back in with her mother. In addition, she faces ridicule from peers at every turn. Davis believes that all of these circumstances add up to Bertrande becoming an unhappy person. After eight years of living in quiet desperation, it is no wonder that she would finally find fulfillment of her hopes and dreams of a better life when the imposter Arnaud du Tilh nicknamed "Pansette," shows up in the village in 1548, in the guise of Martin Guerre. Of course, Bertrande would be predisposed to want to believe that her husband had returned to her, which would allow her to regain a better social status in the village. It also meant that Bertrande would be able to have her own household with her husband who inherited land from his recently deceased father. Davis correctly speculates that even if Bertrande soon realizes Pansette is not her husband, she still finds in him a congenial companion and falls in love with him. They also have a daughter together. Davis finds it very plausible that Bertrande would become a willing collaborator, in order to protect her newfound freedom and social standing. The couple's marital bliss unravels the day Pansette argues with his uncle, Pierre Guerre, over his desire to sell off some of the land. This causes Pierre to become suspicious of the identity of his nephew, since it is an old Basque custom never to sell ancestral land, leading him to sue Pansette as an impostor in a court of law. The feud divides the village and finally places a rift between Pansette and Bertrande. Bertrande had originally testified that Pansette was the original Martin. However, before the start of a subsequent court hearing she caves into the enormous pressure from her widowed mother who married Pierre, to change her testimony. Fearing she could lose her good name and social standing in the family and village, she changes her testimony and accuses Pansette of being an imposter.
Davis comes under heavy criticism from Robert Finlay surrounding the suppositions that she makes about Bertrand's emotions, motivations, and her complicity in the deception perpetrated by Pansette. In Finlay's, article The Refashioning of Martin Guerre he accuses Davis of reading too much into the court record left by Coras. "This Bertrande de Rols seems to be far more a product of invention than of historical reconstruction." Davis, responding to Finlay's criticism of her research methods, more than adequately defends herself in her journal article On the Lame. In it she describes her meticulous research of the court records, social roles and cultural customs of sixteenth century France. "For Davis ... peasant women, are people with sexual as well as economic drives and with cultural traditions and resources which have escaped the eyes of most orthodox historians."
The social historian Natalie Davis was tireless in her efforts to comb the local archives, judicial records, and in conducting interviews of present day inhabitants of the village Artigat to record the folklore of the "famous case" from their village. Davis has brought to light this micro history of sixteenth century peasant life in France in an easy to understand and compelling film and narrative. What makes the story so interesting to modern day viewers and readers is how relevant the story and the people in it are to our own times. This story is about a history of everyday people rather than royalty and generals, history's usual subjects. The story is replete with mystery and plot twists. It also examines the psychological areas of passion and deceit, while questioning personality formation and the self. In tying all of these sub plots together, Davis presents to her modern day audience a chance to examine and to compare their own identities and questions of self.
I read this book for a graduate class in the Humanities. Recommended reading for anyone interested in history and, psychology.
History With Academic Rigour and Real Literary Worth August 29, 2006
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
The Return of Martin Guerre is not a regular history book. It is extremely short and extremely readable: a tale of intrigue; muddled and contradictory motivations; ethnic assimilation, sexual deficiencies; witch craft; and the stolen identity of a peasant by another on the backdrop of the Protestant reformation in France, Natalie Z. Davis's account of this utterly weird case of sixteenth century fraud proves the old dictum that historians never tire of explaining to incredulous novelists and an unfortunately indifferent public: truth is stranger than fiction.
The life of Martin Guerre would have left nearly no evidence of any existence, and have been of little use for any historian, were it not for the fact that he abandoned his young wife and son when he was in his early twenties for motivations that the modern historian can only guess at. Wanting adventure and release from a matrimonial bond that had been established for him at an extremely young age by his wife's and his own parents, young Guerre made his way into the service Spanish nobility and then fought in the Spanish wars in modern Flanders and Holland, where he would loose a leg. This, in and of itself, is unremarkable. There were likely many gimps made by their service in Armies of Spain in the sixteenth century. The utter weirdness of this situation only begins with the entrance of Arnaud du Tilh.
From a modern standpoint, it is difficult to imagine that anyone who knew Martin Guerre would have mistaken Arnaud du Tilh for him for any great length of time. Martin was tall and slender whereas Arnaud was short and stocky; Martin was athletic whereas Arnaud was a lazybones; Martin was difficult and irascible where Arnaud was generally likable; Martin was a native speaker of Basque whereas Arnaud's first tongue was French. The only thing that Arnaud and Martin really had in common was that neither was happy enough in the life they were born into to remain where they were. The question becomes then, how could Arnaud possibly hope to, and very successfully, appropriate the identity of Martin Guerre?
Davis gives many reasonable explanations. First, this was an age before photography and therefore only flawed memory could serve the purpose of knowing what Martin looked like among peasants too poor to have considered portraiture. Second, the Basque tradition which Martin Guerre grew up placed a powerful emphasis on the importance of family and seeing him return would have been, even after a less than honorable exit nearly a decade before, a nearly unadulterated joy. Finally, Davis points out what is the truly amazing about Arnaud is that he had, "a memory an actor would envy (35)." Though this mechanism alone, Davis believes, Arnaud is able to tap into a myriad number of stories which he is able to consciously able to craft into a believable mask of Martin Guerre--one that would, seemingly, fool Martin Guerre's friends, family, and his wife for several years. Even more amazingly, when much of his family was certain that Arnaud was not actually Martin, he would nearly deceive several magistrates.
The fraud only did not go unpunished because the real Martin Guerre reappeared on the scene in the nick of time, and with not much in the way of explanation, with less of memory for the events of his life than Arnaud had. It was this fact that compelled Davis's two primary sources on the case of Martin Guerre to try to understand just what it was that they had witnessed. As Davis points out, this was a case where absolutely nothing was as it seemed. This is what drew both Jean Coras, the judge who nearly freed Arnaud to return to Martin Guerre's wife, to write his magisterial Arrest Memorable and Guillaume Le Sueur Admiranda historia de Pseudo Martino. Both works show a powerful respect for the fact that Arnaud was able to pull off such an incredible act of fraud for so long, but neither could come to terms with how a peasant was capable of doing this. Ultimately this is what drew Davis to the case and will likely be what continues to draw readers to her book.
|
|
|
