Analysis: A Macat Analysis of Natalie Zemon Davis's The Return of Martin Guerre cover art

Analysis: A Macat Analysis of Natalie Zemon Davis's The Return of Martin Guerre

Preview

Get 30 days of Standard free

£5.99/mo after trial. Cancel monthly.
Try for £0.00
More purchase options

Analysis: A Macat Analysis of Natalie Zemon Davis's The Return of Martin Guerre

By: Joseph Tendler
Narrated by: Macat.com
Try for £0.00

£5.99 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for £6.57

Buy Now for £6.57

Summary

The bizarre story of Martin Guerre - a peasant who disappears from a small village in 16th-century France and whose place is taken by an imposter - has captivated historians for centuries.

In her 1983 book, Natalie Zemon Davis, a historian with a special interest in gender studies, examines the role of Martin Guerre's wife Bertrande in their fraudulent marriage. Davis argues that Bertrande plays a key part in the deceit and readily goes along with it. Her book helped spur a shift in the way historians viewed past events generally, and the role of women in a period where documentary evidence was lacking. She daringly used her imagination to reinterpret the story, and some scholars criticized her for "filling in the gaps." But Davis was unrepentant about mixing literary techniques with historical research.

The book became a best-seller and inspired other historians to chronicle the lives of people ignored by traditional history books.

©2016 Macat Inc (P)2016 Macat Inc
Marriage Capitalism
adbl_web_anon_alc_button_suppression_c
No reviews yet