El perfume o el miasma : el olfato y lo imaginario social, siglos XVIII y XIX

by CORBIN Alain

Ensayo dedicado a la historia de la percepción olfativa, sentido capaz de modificar la conducta humana a dimensiones insospechadas. Aquí se intenta desentrañar la importancia que tienen en nuestras vidas los olores naturales y su relación con la existencia.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, France, Anthropology, 18th Century, Research, Sociology

253 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1982

Reviews

[blume4000 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hab meinen Verstand verloren aber ich weiß jetzt auch sehr viel. Liest sich wie ne endlos lange Anekdote die man lesen
WILL, aber es geht einfach nicht rum

Man liest, und liest, und liest, und liest und dann braucht man 1 Monat für 300 Seiten Text weils nicht aufhört

Ich weiß jetzt viel (über einen ganz kleines Kompartiment der Pariser Geschichte) und kann euch erklären warums stinkt

Kp was soll ich sagen

[The Sporty Bookworm · Rating 2 out of 5]

Livre d'histoire sur l'évolution de la perception des odeurs. C'est technique et bien écrit mais il faut s'accrocher. C'est un très bon livre mais je n'ai pas réussi à rentrer dedans pour ma part. Cela ne m'a pas passionné mais cela ferait une bonne lecture pour un historien du quotidien.

[Rebecca · Rating 2 out of 5]

A history of ideas about smell, cleanliness, health and illness in France, starting in the early modern period up to the turn of the 20th century... I didn't read all of this in detail because it was research for an essay, but what I did read wasn't particularly easy to follow, dates weren't often mentioned so it was hard to trace exactly what was happening, and it was hard to follow exactly what Corbain was getting at in several chapters. Maybe this was because he was writing about difficult, commonly changing ideas, but first it was odour carries illness, then it doesn't, then it does again... I would recommend Concepts of Cleanliness: Changing Attitudes in France Since the Middle Ages instead of this, an earlier book that explains things much more clearly.

[M. Ritchey · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can not speak highly enough of this gem. It is a history of smell in France. Yes, smell. How people perceived it, what they thought about it, how it turned up in pop culture. How the perception of smell changed from medieval times to the 19th century. I literally could not put it down. Such a great example of a book that should be boring but is completely riveting. So bizarre. The depictions of 19th century Paris are some of the most revolting images that have ever been placed into my head. GET IN!

[Filip Engler · Rating 5 out of 5]

Extremely interesting book about society and It's relations with odors bad and good.

[Martin Chudik · Rating 5 out of 5]

Engrossing (pun intended).

If you merge Foucault, Mary Douglas and her concepts of pollution, purity and taboo, and Norbert Elias and his analysis of the civilizing process, you get this.

This is a 'total' history from a historian of the Annales school, looking at the perceptions of the sense of smell before Pasteur and his germ theory of disease (the period being analyzed is roughly between 1750 and 1850), and the ensuing consequences for social sensibilities in their manifold representations. There is a great diversity of sources and perspectives - histories of science, medicine, hygiene, public health, literature,architectural and urban history and from manners and etiquette books.

"This was an era in which scientific men maintained that high death rates in the New World were due to the vapors released by tilling virgin soil; in which the fumes of early industry were welcomed as purifying, much as cannon smoke was believed to purify stinking battlefields; and in which social conflict over the administration of excrement involved debate over the therapeutic properties of cesspool stench. It was a world, finally, in which popular anxieties concerning smell involved convictions about the fateful penetration of the body by other people's odors, the maleficent power of certain perfumes,and the prophylactic properties of others."

Corbin has a gifted eye for bringing together curious details: pre-Lavoisierian scientific investigation of the "airs" given off by the earth, by marshes and stagnant water, by bodies dead and alive (including attempts to isolate the distinctive smells of people of different age, sex, and occupation); the use of strong animal scents like musk to enhance body odors and sexual attractiveness, giving way gradually to more bathing and the gentler floral perfumes; the place of "natural" smells like new-mown hay in the romanticization of "nature" and the countryside from the age of Rousseau onward; the advocacy of or resistance to ventilation in buildings and ships; the privatization of excrement, the disappearance of open, communal latrines, and the investing of the act of defecation with greater shame and discipline.

There are some small issues I have with the book. Certainly a more comparative perspective would have benefited it and the (often overlapping) chronologies are sometimes all over the place. But these are relatively minor quibbles in a work of this scope.

[Mustafa Uğur Etike]

Kokunun "Altın Dal"ı. Bir tür popüler tarih ("Lezzetli Fransa Tarihi" gibi) sanıyordum, fakat derleme-analiz çıktı karşıma.

Bugün yanlışlanan miyasma (sağlığa zararlı pis koku) hipotezinin üzerine yazılmış; aynı esîr (æther), filojiston, huy ve hâlimizi değiştiren salgı-sıvılar yahut Demokritos'un atomu gibi: daha iyisi bulunana kadar kabul edilen ve yeni çalışmaların bu temele dayandırıldığı -bugün yanlışlanmış- hipotezler.

"Kötü koku sağlığa zararlıdır." aslında "koku hasta edebilir" diye tersten anlaşılmış diyelim. Hâlbuki "sağlığa zararlı şeyler kötü kokabilir", fakat onların bakterilerden ve virüslerden haberi yok. Sonrası kolay: vücutta pis balgam, kötü koku, hastalık, hatta kötü niyet, azgınlık, günah, fakirlik, çirkinlik hepsi bir yolun yolcusu; karşısındaki önlem ise güzel kokan çiçek özleri, asil bir kişilik ve dualar vb. Bugün biliyoruz ki korelasyon bile çok az, nedensellik neredeyse hiç yok.

Yazarın bunları iyi bir fikirmiş gibi, geçmiş teorisyenlerin ağzından, yazma tarzı ise hoşuma gitmedi.

Koku geçmişte nasıl algılanmış, içgüdülerimiz koku üzerinden yaşam tarzımıza nasıl müdahale etmiş ve bazen de insanlar burunlarının dikine gidip nasıl yanlış kanılara varmış bundan, "Le Miasme et la jonquille"den, iyi özetlenemez.

[Elise van der Leer-Schaaf · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dit boek geeft een mooie beschrijving van hoe mensen in het verleden naar geur hebben gekeken. Het is voornamelijk een opsomming van diverse ontwikkelingen, ontdekkingen en overtuigingen die mensen hebben gehad, die elkaar hebben afgewisseld. Het leest in die zin niet heel gemakkelijk, omdat de ene na de andere overtuigingen genoemd worden, die elkaar nogal eens tegenspraken, maar daardoor laat het wel zien dat vooruitgang niet rechtlijnig is. Het boek moet daarom ook vooral gezien worden in zijn tijd - voor 1982 was het een goed boek. Nu zouden we andere eisen stellen aan een historisch en wetenschappelijk werk.

[Alejandro · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesante libro que me atrajo mas que nada por la parte del imaginario social, o como se unia la cuestión del olfato con la mirada hacia las clases bajas en las ciudades, la relacion del olor con los residuos entre otras cuestiones. Debo admitir que mis inquietudes no fueron del todo satisfechas ya que el libro se centra mucho en otras cuestiones mas ligadas a la ciencia, medicina, clases altas, etc. No deja de ser un libro disparador de reflexiones y para curiosos del tema.

[Renee · Rating 3 out of 5]

A tough read, but I persevered due to the frequency of these (and other similar) words: carnage, carrion, cesspool, decay, decomposition, disgust, excretion, fetid, filth, foul, gorge, noxious, odor, odoriferous, ooze, putrid, putrification, rancid, repugnance, repulsive, revulsion, rot, sewage, stagnant, stench, slime, vapour, waste. What a delight!

[Flapidouille · Rating 2 out of 5]

Il s'agit d'une méticuleuse compilation, certes intéressante mais qu'un style lourd et indigeste rend assez pénible. Dommage. J'ai regretté également le manque de dates, qui permettraient de mieux se situer.

[Elif Melisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dommage car difficilement lisible, beaucoup de sot en avant et en arrière dans le temps.

[Erin]

exams - france - environmental perspectives
crazy book! loved it! a true classic!

[繁邦 · Rating 4 out of 5]

很有開創性，是我讀的第一本關於氣味的書。我在意關於「體味」的敘述，雖然在這本書中的占比不大，但它的研究方法啟發了我。

[Catalina Griffiths · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un estudio muy bueno sobre la relación humana con los olores en los siglos XVIII y XIX, tema que muchas veces pasa desaparcibido por los historiadores pero que es parte de nuestra cotidianidad

[Fatima Murguia · Rating 3 out of 5]

La primera mitad y el final son interesantes, lo demás es un poco aburrido.

[Curtis Newbold · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you're in the mood for a real strange glance into history, through the lens of smell, this book is for you. Corbin takes the most "pungent" of the five human senses and walks readers through the politics, imaginations, and physiology of smell. It's a creative, interesting book, peppered with glances into how human emotion is affected by the science of our senses. It only gets a 3-star rating from me, though, because of the obnoxious attempt to use as many terms for smell as possible (perhaps 20 - 30), and for encroaching redundancy to frequently. The book didn't need to be as long as it was to be effective.

[Vincent Hernot · Rating 3 out of 5]

Extremely interesting, fascinatingly so in fact. It's illuminating on so many origins of our beliefs, behaviours and reactions of today, too.
It's also exhaustive, to a degree which, at times, makes this a pretty tough read.
There are many sociological interpretations in there, and some feel a bit more stretched - although not unbelievable.
So needs time, and necessitates to hang in there at times, but in the end a very useful book.

[Deb · Rating 4 out of 5]

not as much aromatherapy allusion as i might have liked and indeed that is why i originally bought the book but nonetheless a fascinating insight into the days before sewage was efficiently and effectively dealt with in france...you can almost smell the pages at times...(there are refernces to lovely smells too!)

[GertJan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Een beetje er doorheen geskipped, in de tweede helft, maar fascinerend boek over de veranderingen in geur en stank in en rond Frankrijk rond de 18e eeuw. Over weerzinwekkende, maar normale situaties naar nieuwe inzichten en normen over individuele hygiene, en hoe dat door de verschillende klassen heen speelde. Degelijke Franse geschiedschrijving, tjokvol met referenties en citaten.

[Charles · Rating 5 out of 5]

A magnificent study of the olfactory, good and bad! It just makes scents!

[Stephleemiller]

Just 50 pages into this and amazed at the complexity and humor.