Time, Desire and Horror: Towards a History of the Senses

by Alain Corbin, Jean Birrell (Translator)

In this book Alain Corbin argues that the 1860s were a crucial period for western civilization, characterized by radical changes in the way Europeans viewed themselves and their world. Corbin examines urban development, the new mobility of the population, prostitution and policing, personal hygiene and the social plagues of alcoholism, tuberculosis and venereal disease.

224 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1991

About the author

Alain Corbin is a French historian, specialist of the 19th century in France.

Trained in the Annales School, Corbin's work has moved away from the large-scale collective structures studied by Fernand Braudel towards a history of sensibilities which is closer to Lucien Febvre's history of mentalités. His books have explored the histories of such subjects as male desire and prostitution, sensory experience of smell and sound, and the 1870 burning of a young nobleman in a Dordogne village.

Reviews

[Song · Rating 5 out of 5]

这本书的精彩超乎预期。法国史家的视角、论述和观点，迥异于我惯常读过的中国、英美和德国历史作品。法国人精于艺术和享乐，所以能够开创感官史这样的门类。而把古人的感官写得这么鲜活，真是给了现代人的历史好奇最大的满足。

[Blanche · Rating 5 out of 5]

excellent contenu très dense sur l'histoire des sensibilités x individualités au XIXe siècle.
l'organisation des textes est quelque peu abrupte et peut nuire à la lecture de l'ouvrage mais correspond à celle d'un ouvrage général d'histoire.