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The Return of Martin Guerre

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The Return of Martin Guerre

Written by: Natalie Zemon Davis
Narrated by: Sarah Mollo-Christensen
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About this listen

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. Natalie Zemon Davis reconstructs the lives of ordinary people, in a sparkling way that reveals the hidden attachments and sensibilities of nonliterate 16th-century villagers.

We learn what happens when common people get involved in the workings of the criminal courts in the ancient 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 a remarkable psychological narrative about where self-fashioning stops and lying begins.

©1983 The President and Fellows of Harvard College (P)2018 Tantor 16th Century France Historical True Crime Village
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Profile Image for Grace

It's great

a wild ride all around. history is so whack sometimes.

I really like the way the author explores the agency of the wife.

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Profile Image for Roberta W

This was intriguing!

What an intriguing slice of history. From the perspective of today, it is hard to imagine someone impersonating another, in close proximity to family, and getting away with it. I’m 65 and I still know the likeness of my siblings from photographs, and myself too. I have always lived with mirrors. What would life have been without these ways to gaze at ourselves, and recall others? What if you only had your memory? This real life account tells what really happened- and makes you think. I recommend it. It’s a quick listen.

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