The Cheese and the Worms: A 16th-Century Miller's Cosmic Vision
'The Cheese and the Worms' by Carlo Ginzburg Review
Carlo Ginzburg's microhistory, first published in 1976, reconstructs the worldview of Menocchio, a literate Italian miller executed for heresy in 1599. Through his trial records, Ginzburg reveals a unique blend of peasant culture, radical religious ideas, and personal imagination. This new edition, with a revised translation and postscript, celebrates the book's enduring influence on historical methodology.
For him, the universe emerged from chaos through a process akin to putrefaction. God and the angels, in his words, 'were produced by nature, just as worms are produced from a cheese.'
- devindotcom
Oh, how wonderful. I've been meaning to pick this up but was worried about the accuracy and completeness of the old edition (not that I'd be able to tell, really). So this is great to hear:
> This new edition – the publication of which shortly and sadly pre-dated Ginzburg’s death on 17 June this year – is therefore invaluable, both as an engaging history in its own right and as a ‘classic’ of microhistory. The new translation by Stephen Twilley is excellent, correcting numerous small mistakes and infelicities in the 1980 English edition. It also includes the author’s previously untranslated afterword and a new postscript, which together provide insightful and moving reflections on how Ginzburg’s experiences as a Jew in the 1940s shaped his commitment to studying individuals in all their complexity rather than as merely part of the anonymous masses.
Ordering one right now. If you're curious about this, look also into Ginzburg's "The Night Battles," which is another rabbit hole entirely (and one I hope gets a new edition too).
and here's the JHUP link: https://www.press.jhu.edu/books/title/53948/cheese-and-worms
- shermantanktop
I read this in college, with a fantastic professor (RIP) who also assigned Huizinga's "Homo Ludens." I loved it ...if only the rest of academic history was so free-thinking and human-centric, I might have stayed.
"Night Battles" is amazing too. And the fact that some of the scholarship in both books is contested adds to the interest - he really rattled some cages and wasn't afraid to take an idea and run with it.
- jhbadger
I had no idea who he was before reading an obituary when he died a couple of months ago but I've read "The Cheese and the Worms" and "The Night Battles" after that and I plan to read all his works -- he really presents a version of history that hasn't been much covered by others.