Jump to ratings and reviews
Rate this book

A History of Private Life #3

História da Vida Privada, Vol. 3: Da Renascença ao Século das Luzes

Rate this book
Divido em três partes, o volume oferece um quadro abrangente, mas de enorme detalhamento e variedade, de um dos períodos cruciais na história do Ocidente: da Renascença ao chamado Século das Luzes. Nesta época marcada pela ampliação do poder estatal, são analisados o desmoronamento da sociabilidade comunitária, o avanço da alfabetização e da difusão dos livros, as formas de piedade solitária incentivadas pelo protestantismo e pela Contra-Reforma,
enfim, os diversos fatores que contribuíram para dilatar a separação entre o público e o privado, consolidando a sensibilidade e o individualismo que caracterizaram a era moderna.

632 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1986

24 people are currently reading
1278 people want to read

About the author

Roger Chartier

132 books39 followers
Roger Chartier is a French historian and historiographer who is part of the Annales school. He works on the history of books, publishing and reading. He teaches at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales in Paris, the Collège de France, and the University of Pennsylvania.

Ratings & Reviews

What do you think?
Rate this book

Friends & Following

Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!

Community Reviews

5 stars
76 (32%)
4 stars
99 (42%)
3 stars
43 (18%)
2 stars
11 (4%)
1 star
4 (1%)
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
Profile Image for Naia Pard.
Author 2 books103 followers
November 20, 2020
This book was really something else. I should have started with the first book in the series but it is quite a hard to find, even in better circumstances (than a frecking pandemic).

It is preoccupied by the Renaissance and the Enlightenment and how those periods helped the concept of privacy develop into what has become today. It may have stemmed from the way politics were done (figures!).

They followed the evolution of certain laws that gradually introduced in their vernacular concepts that entailed property-privatization—(and more than that) the self. The individual became a thing .

One was represented by his own deeds and actions and not so much by his community (that is a crass simplification because people still identified with a community- for example their recognized themselves as Catholics, but they started being more weary of those with which they made contact—you were no longer able to just stroll in one`s courtyard and expect lodging over night and/or food).

Another factor is the growing alphabetization of the population (this book is a study based on the French society-history), but do not imagine that those numbers were sky rocketing to the level of the current statistics. They are talking of people able to sign themselves (and that did not necessarily mean that they could write if they could read).

If you find yourself in need of a non-fiction that is both pleasantly read and at the same time quite informative this may be it.

Instagram\\my Blog\\
Profile Image for Cat.
183 reviews37 followers
August 24, 2007
And now volume three. My reviews of the first two books in this series have garnered a fat total of 0 votes, positive or negative, so I'll make this review brief.

This book charts the transistion from the middle ages to the beginnings of the modern period. In the introduction by Aries (who's scholarship is the inspiration for this project), he makes a claim that this time period deserves to be treated as a seperate "early modern" period. It's a noble thought, but the book reads more like one would expect: a lot of the middle ages and a little of modernity, but a lack of the coherence that one sees in volumes I, II and IV.

The authors are mostly concerned with discussing two (seemingly)contradictory trends: the attempt by families to develop "private space" and the attempt by the state to intrude on that private space. Chapter two deals mostly with the first statement, chapter three with the second.

You have to keep an open mind with the Annales school of scholarship. The writers favor open ended generalizations to conclusive statements and are just as interested in providing ideas for further study as they are in answering questions.
40 reviews
February 21, 2015
There are no dates on the photographs of extant items, which made it quite difficult to place the items in a clearer historical reference. I found that I googled most photos, then scribbled in their dates and original locations on post-its left in the margins. Italian renaissance does not equal French renaissance does not equal English renaissance, etc. Otherwise, quite useful.
810 reviews2 followers
February 18, 2015
This is the best volume of the 3 I've read. I found interesting parallels between the young men of the chirivari and the Taliban in one section. Also, it was interesting to read how reading as changed over the centuries.
Profile Image for Meredith.
303 reviews8 followers
February 25, 2018
Loses one full star for the pictures not being dated. Frustrating. Otherwise excellent.
Profile Image for Moloch.
507 reviews781 followers
January 31, 2015
Lettura interrotta temporaneamente (causa vacanze) e ora finalmente terminata! :-)

Onestamente, all'inizio, stavo cominciando a pensare che i casi fossero due: o stavo diventando scema io, il che era anche possibile, o qualcuno, nella fattispecie lo storico Yves Castan o il traduttore Francesco Maiello, non sapeva fare il suo lavoro, perché del primo capitolo, scritto dall'uno e tradotto dall'altro, non ho capito assolutamente nulla. Che questi libri, dietro l'apparenza di una confezione impeccabile, nascondessero qualche magagna (quanto meno nell'edizione italiana), me ne ero resa conto già dai primi due volumi, e me lo ha confermato trovare un fantomatico "Monsieur, principe di" nell'Indice dei nomi (!). Però stavolta mi sono dovuta ricredere, almeno parzialmente, e ho fatto una piacevole lettura. Con questo tipo di opere è inevitabile imbattersi in contributi più o meno interessanti, ben scritti, pertinenti al tema generale: qui, ottimi e chiari quelli sull'influenza delle Riforme protestante e cattolica nella definizione di uno spazio di devozione individuale e privato, di François Lebrun, sulle nuove pratiche di scrittura e lettura individuali, di Roger Chartier, sull'importanza del galateo in società e a tavola, di Jacques Revel e di Jean-Louis Flandrin, sulla diversa considerazione data all'infanzia, di Jacques Gélis, sull'evoluzione della struttura delle abitazioni, di Alain Collomp, sul controllo sulla vita privata degli individui esercitato dalla comunità di villaggio, di Daniel Fabre. Come si intuisce anche da questi nomi di autori citati, la Francia rimane, in pratica, l'unico campo di indagine esaminato, ma stavolta i curatori del volume (P. Ariès e R. Chartier) non solo si rendono perfettamente conto di questo sbilanciamento, ma ne sanno dare anche una giustificazione condivisibile. Bellissimo, al solito, l'apparato iconografico.

3,5/5

http://moloch981.wordpress.com/2010/1...
90 reviews2 followers
August 30, 2011
Overwhelming discussions about the shifting western social tides from the dominant value of the community to the dominant value of the individual who is recognizable when we look in a mirror. We begin to see ourselves and our society emerging from a long period in which individual worth was of minor worth to society. This is the period in which the American Revolution finally erupted to legally clear the way for individuals to exist, and the French Revolution hammered the coffin shut on "organic" social organization. The results of the two revolts are interesting to say the least.
Profile Image for Harald.
484 reviews10 followers
March 29, 2018
Another impossible book project. How did ordinary people live, think, and feel in the period between the Reformation and the French Revolution? The chapter that appealed to me the most dealt with reading and writing in several European countries. Two very different activities evidently. The book is otherwise very focused on France with side glances to other countries.

Egentlig et umulig prosjekt. Hvordan levde, tenkte og følte alminnelige vesteuropeere i tida mellom reformasjonen og den franske revolusjonen? Boka er skrevet av historikere med stor vekt på levevilkår, familieliv og tenkesett i Frankrike med noen sideblikk til andre land. Kapitlet som begeistret meg mest handler om lesing og skriving i flere europeiske land, inkludert Sverige og Danmark. Det er høyst ulike aktiviteter viser det seg. Vittig og opplysende skrevet. Så får en heller gjette seg til eller lese andre steder om nordmennenes privatliv i den samme perioden fra 1517 til 1800.
Profile Image for Pinko Palest.
961 reviews47 followers
June 7, 2018
the French are brilliant at doing history, though some times french historians tend to base themselves on higher culture a bit too exclusively. Likewise here: very interesting facts about the heights of society, but not too much about everybody else, while all the conclusions, and there are a lot of these, only really apply to those at the apex and not to anybody else
Profile Image for Victor Hernández A..
180 reviews1 follower
August 2, 2024
Un libro bastante basto y bastante nutrido de información, sin embargo tiende a volverse muy soso.

Es muy complicado seguirle el hilo cuando cambia de ritmo tantas veces y cuando ya hace sub capítulos prácticamente por cualquier cosa y repite temas para ampliarlos.


Pese a todo ello muy interesante y educativo
Profile Image for Sam.
378 reviews5 followers
January 11, 2024
A mix of essays. An interesting one about charivari mocking ceremonies: gangs of young men used to harass people getting married, violators of sexual taboos, & others, often demanding payment to stop. The church & government eventually suppressed this.
633 reviews3 followers
January 4, 2025
Mostly focused on France, but with surprising and intriguing details about changes in private life between the medieval and the modern.
Profile Image for Fiona Montgomery.
257 reviews
April 18, 2025
Not my cup of tea; very true to the title and not exploring into the backgrounds of more known artists like I was hoping.
Profile Image for JP.
279 reviews4 followers
December 21, 2025
Loved it. Like reading someone’s diary, but from 300 years ago.
Profile Image for Margot.
32 reviews2 followers
January 22, 2025
Though at first the structure of the book a little disoriented me, the easy manner in which the topics of the changes in collective consciousness are addressed in intimate essay format, touching upon a variety of ingenious topics was very interesting and revealed so many details and concepts that i did not know about and had not occured to me, so that it was indeed quite fascinating. This book can also be read non serially.
2,160 reviews
Want to read
April 16, 2023
Passions of the Renaissance (A History of Private Life, #3)
by Philippe Ariès (Editor)





from the library
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews

Can't find what you're looking for?

Get help and learn more about the design.