French Rural History: An Essay on its Basic Characteristics

by Marc Bloch, Janet Sondheimer (Translator)

本书是法国史学家马克·布洛赫的代表作。书中介绍了法国农村从中世纪到十九世纪前农业革命这一时期的历史。着重阐述了法国的土地制度、圈地的形式、畜牧业和农耕的结合、农业革命的进程。

Genres: History, France, Nonfiction

312 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 1970

About the author

Marc Léopold Benjamin Bloch (6 July 1886 in Lyon – 16 June 1944 in Saint-Didier-de-Formans) was a medieval historian, University Professor and French Army officer. Bloch was a founder of the Annales School, best known for his pioneering studies French Rural History and Feudal Society and his posthumously-published unfinished meditation on the writing of history, The Historian's Craft. He was captured and shot by the Gestapo during the German occupation of France for his work in the French Resistance.

Reviews

[Orsodimondo · Rating 4 out of 5]

PASSATO E PRESENTE



Come immaginare che un libro che parla di agricoltura, della campagna francese, di storia agraria in Francia, addirittura dei suoi caratteri specifici, possa aprire mondi, universi, avvincere e appassionare, offrire prospettive nuove e inaspettate?
Come immaginare che una ricerca storica che è stata pubblicata novant’anni fa (1931) sia tuttora valida, pregnante e palpitante?


Marc Bloch (1886 – 1944) combatté la Prima Guerra Mondiale dall’inizio alla fine passando da sergente di fanteria a capitano dei servizi d’informazione, contraendo nella vita di trincea un’artrite reumatoide che lo tormentò tutta la vita.

Mi sono trovato davanti pagine che da subito superano quella ristretta visione storica costruita sui grandi eventi della diplomazia e della politica. Pagine che allargano lo sguardo a fonti che verrebbe da associare piuttosto alla linguistica, la toponomastica, al lessico e alla fonetica. Pagine di storia comparata che si trasformano in una sintesi potente pur spaziando dalla Gallia romana alla Rivoluzione francese, e non si fermano solo agli elementi comuni ma abbracciano anche le differenze.


Nonostante l’età (53 anni), nonostante vari problemi di salute e una famiglia numerosa a carico, Bloch fu richiamato nell’esercito subito prima dell’invasione tedesca della Polonia, alla fine dell'agosto 1939.

Una ricca introduzione e sette capitoli sono il frutto di conferenze tenute un paio d’anni prima della pubblicazione da Bloch a Oslo e descrivono i sistemi agrari, i rapporti di proprietà fondiaria, l’occupazione della terra, i gruppi sociali, le condizioni giuridiche ed economiche, i progressi tecnici, le crisi dal Medioevo attraverso la rivoluzione agraria fino alla fine del secolo cosiddetto dei lumi. Ricerche che possono derivare anche dal metodo di attaccare i cavalli da sella e da tiro…!


Lasciata la divisa, la vita non fu semplice, in quanto ebreo subì forti limitazioni, fino a dover firmare i suoi studi con uno pseudonimo, e fino a entrare nella Resistenza col nome di battaglia di Narbonne.

No, la prima volta che l’ho letto non potevo immaginarlo.
Poi, ho capito chi era Marc Bloch, cos’erano i suoi Annales, l’ampiezza del suo orizzonte e la varietà dei suoi interessi, quel modo di fare storia di cui qui da noi si parla molto bene e si pratica molto poco, ho letto e riletto questo suo libro, e letto perfino una terza volta… E allora, è stato facile immaginare che parlando di agricoltura, partendo da un attrezzo agricolo, che so, una pala, Bloch fosse in grado di raccontare una terra, un popolo, un’epoca. Fosse in grado di fare Storia con la S maiuscola.

[X]

“And so the past continues to dominate the present.”

…I got this on a whim and you know what, I was probably the wrong audience for most of it since furrow techniques mean nothing to me. Or is it farrow? I read a whole book about this but I still can’t remember, oops lol. I was more interested in the political stuff, which comes in near the end and is interesting but not deep - this book is a survey of French agricultural practices from the 1100s or so to 1789 and that’s exactly what you get, no more and no less. I do enjoy history written in uh history because you can feel the author’s personality and opinions come through a bit and you definitely got that here, which was fun.

I also liked this quote from the Norman poet Wace, writing in the 1100s: “In numbers we are many—let the knights then feel our strength—then we can go to the woods as we will—to cut the trees and take our pick—to catch the fish as they swim—to chase the deer through the forests—to do there as we please—in the clearings, waters and trees.”

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a great book. And you wouldn't think so, from the title. Sounds a bit dull. But it really ends up being filled with all sorts of fascinating information (fascinating to me, that is- I think you already have to be at least slightly interested in French history). I was hoping I would like Bloch's work, and I'm glad I did...Bloch is sort of a historian hero, in a way. In the 1930s he became the best medievalist in France, and then in WWII he was executed by the Nazis for working in the French Resistance. Damn Nazis.
Bloch is interested in grand structures, and long, long term change over time. What clues can we find in the landscape, in material culture, in French agricultural history, that can help us understand how France came to be the way it is today, and why differences arose between France and Germany and Britain, etc. Bloch uses linguistics- analyzing the names of places and whether they come from Frankish words, or Latin, or earlier languages- to try to piece together how the land was cleared and settled. He looks at the size and shape of parcels of land, and the way crops were rotated, and shows how for centuries France was a border area between two very different systems of agriculture. He uses logical reasoning too- to get at plausible explanations for all sorts of developments of centuries ago.
It's not that this is devoid of boring parts, there are certainly some dry sections. But for the most part the style is great- almost conversational. It plays like a good lecture, from the sort of professor who clearly loves his topic and wants you to understand why he finds it so fascinating. The sort of professor who admits when he can't figure something out, and is genuinely excited about all the future research that will answer all these little questions he has. It isn't pedantic, is what I'm saying.

[Estep Nagy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Marc Bloch helped form the Annales school of historians in mid-20th-century France, a group whose key insights included a) focusing on the data of everyday life rather than sweeping events (e.g. how the shape and size of medieval plows affected the shape and size of farms/houses, which in turn affected the density of villages) and b) how those data create the mentalities -- the overarching assumptions -- that then determine how people react (or don't react) to contemporary events. Bloch was also a Resistance leader in WWII and was executed by the Gestapo. Don't even know if this is still in print, but what I took from it is that to create and sustain characters who are alive in every respect, we have to more fully imagine all the things that are not even in a finished book: their commute, their childcare situation, the mental condition of their landlord or the expensiveness of their house, etc. The small, small details. Even though they sometimes sound daunting, the work of most of the Annales historians (Braudel, Febvre, Le Goff, La Durie Roy, etc) is surprisingly compelling (and accessible) because of this very grounded focus. Highly recommended, especially for writers.

[Robert · Rating 5 out of 5]

The bee's knees and still a classic, though unfairly dated with respect to its available sources. Comparable only to Bloch's book on Feudalism.

[AC · Rating 5 out of 5]

A classic