Wooden eyes
nine refelctions on distance
- ISBN: 9781859846377
- Editorial: Verso Books
- Fecha de la edición: 2002
- Lugar de la edición: London. Reino Unido
- Encuadernación: Cartoné
- Medidas: 24 cm
- Nº Pág.: 261
- Idiomas: Inglés
Carlo Ginzburg's new book is a thought-provoking study of the various meanings of distance. The author opens with a defamiliarization which traces the roots of the idea in classical and enlightenment culture, he then moves on to explorations of the concepts of perspective, representation, imagery and myth. Ginzburg finishes with considering the moral implications of distance in a discussion of the question posed by Balzac's Rastignac: if you were offered the chance of acquiring a fortune by willing the death of an unknown person in a distant country, would you be able to resist? The author mines sources as diverse as Origen's "Homilies on Exodus" and the descriptions of the wooden effigies used at royal funerals duirng the middle ages. Carlo Ginzburg also makes use of his renowned historical method to shed light on questions of universal relevance and significance.
