The cheese and the worms : the cosmos of a sixteenth-century miller / Carlo Ginzburg ; translated by John Tedeschi, Anne C. Tedeschi, and Stephen Twilley.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Ginzburg, Carlo, Author.

Contributor:

Tedeschi, John A., 1931- translator.

Tedeschi, Anne, translator.

Twilley, Stephen, translator.

Standardized Title:

Formaggio e i vermi. English http://id.loc.gov/resources/hubs/4d88e90e-9ed1-a736-03c8-1a4e5e0e30cf

Language:

English

Italian

Subjects (All):

Scandella, Domenico, 1532-1599.

Scandella, Domenico.

Christian heretics--Italy--Udine (Province).

Christian heretics.

Christian heresies--History--Modern period, 1500-.

Christian heresies.

Peasants--Italy--Udine (Province)--16th century.

Peasants.

Udine (Italy : Province)--Religious life and customs.

Udine (Italy : Province).

Udine (Italy : Province)--Civilization.

Udine (Italy : Province)--Church history.

Italy--Udine (Province).

Italy.

Genre:

Translations

Physical Description:

xxv, 194 pages : illustrations (black and white) ; 24 cm

Edition:

Fiftieth-Anniversary Edition.

Place of Publication:

Baltimore : Johns Hopkins University Press, 2026.

Summary:

"The Cheese and the Worms is an incisive study of popular culture in the sixteenth century as seen through the eyes of one man, the miller known as Menocchio, who was accused of heresy during the Inquisition and sentenced to death. In the fiftieth anniversary edition of this now-classic book, Carlo Ginzburg uses the trial records to illustrate the religious and social conflicts of the society Menocchio lived in. For a common miller, Menocchio was surprisingly literate. In his trial testimony, he made references to more than a dozen books, including the Bible, Boccaccio's Decameron, Mandeville's Travels, and a "mysterious" book that may have been the Koran. And what he read he recast in terms familiar to him, as in his own version of the creation: "All was chaos, that is earth, air, water, and fire were mixed together; and of that bulk a mass formed-just as cheese is made out of milk-and worms appeared in it, and these were the angels." Ginzburg's massively influential book has been widely regarded as an early example of the analytic, case-oriented approach known as microhistory. In the preface, Ginzburg offers his own corollary to Menocchio's story as he considers the discrepancy between the intentions of the writer and what gets written. The Italian miller's story and Ginzburg's work continue to resonate with modern readers because they focus on how oral and written culture are inextricably linked. Menocchio's 500-year-old challenge to authority remains evocative and vital today"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Preface to the Italian edition

Translators' note

Acknowledgments

1. Menocchio

2. The town

3. First interrogation

4. "Possessed?"

5. From Concordia to Portogruaro

6. "To speak out against his superiors"

7. An archaic society

8. "They oppress the poor"

9. "Lutherans" and Anabaptists

10. A miller, a painter, a buffoon

11. "My opinions came out of my head"

12. The books

13. Readers of the town

14. Printed pages and "fantastic opinions"

15. Blind alley?

16. The temple of the virgins

17. The funeral of the Madonna

18. The father of Christ

19. Judgment day

20. Mandeville

21. Pigmies and cannibals

22. "God of nature"

23. The three rings

24. Written culture and oral culture

25. Chaos

26. Dialogue

27. Mythical cheeses and real cheeses

28. The monopoly over knowledge

29. The words of the Fioretto

30. The function of metaphors

31. "Master," "steward," and "workers"

32. A hypothesis

33. Peasant religion

34. The soul

35. "I don't know"

36. Two spirits, seven souls, four elements

37. The flight of an idea

38. Contradictions

39. Paradise

40. A new "way of life"

41. "To kill priests"

42. A "new world"

43. End of the interrogations

44. Letter to the judges

45. Rhetorical figures

46. First sentence

47. Prison

48. Return to the town

49. Denunciations

50. Nocturnal dialogue with the Jew

51. Second trial

52. "Fantasies"

53. "Vanities and dreams"

54. "Oh great, omnipotent, and holy God..."

55. "If only I had died when I was fifteen"

56. Second sentence

57. Torture

58. Scolio

59. Pellegrino Baroni

60. Two millers

61. Dominant culture and subordinate culture

62. Letters from Rome

Afterword

Postscript.

Notes:

Originally published in Italian as Il formaggio e i vermi: Il cosmo di un mugnaio del '500.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Other Format:

Online version Ginzburg, Carlo, 1939- Cheese and the worms

ISBN:

9781421454634

1421454637

OCLC:

1577715554

Publisher Number:

CIPO000353660