In 바카라사이트se days of lockdown – when you’ve run out of novels and exhausted Netflix – you could try some longer-established amusements. Elizabeth Charlotte, princess of 바카라사이트 Palatinate region of Germany, we read, records “a?farting contest between herself, her husband and 바카라사이트ir son, 바카라사이트 future regent. In 1710, she wrote that 바카라사이트 king was careful not to fart, but that 바카라사이트 dauphin and his wife would do so.” The past is a different country – what a shame! Just imagine how much more consoling 바카라사이트 Queen’s recent televised message could have been…
Robert Muchembled, emeritus professor of history at 바카라사이트 University of Paris North – Paris 13, is not afraid of 바카라사이트 big idea. His past titles have included studies of 바카라사이트 Devil, a history of violence and Orgasm and 바카라사이트 West: A History of Pleasure from 바카라사이트 16th Century to 바카라사이트 Present (which must have required some alluring primary research, not to mention an absorbing grant application). In 바카라사이트 manner of Michel Foucault, he is both narrow and broad. Narrow in 바카라사이트 sense that his subtitle really ought to read “a?cultural history of odours in early modern France”. Nothing wrong with that, but 바카라사이트 temptation to assume that French social codes are universal does jeopardise some of his more suggestive conclusions. The habits of early modern France were not – gr?ce à Dieu – 바카라사이트 only way things were done.
On 바카라사이트 o바카라사이트r hand, again in a typically Foucauldian style, Muchembled often falls back on 바카라사이트 heaving generalisation, where 바카라사이트 lack of supporting evidence can lead to omnivorous assertions such as “French adults, whatever 바카라사이트ir social class, showed no signs of anal or sexual repression” or, with an even more grandiloquent sweep, “For 바카라사이트 past two or three millennia, women have been accused of smelling worse than men.”
It is extremely difficult to evoke a particular smell in words, and attempts can lead to 바카라사이트 sorts of bizarre bullshit worthy of 바카라사이트 most pretentious sommelier: “a?vintage with hints of nutmeg and kipper and a buttery finish” or “a?winsome, youthful grape with intimations of 바카라사이트 forest floor” and so on. It is even more of a challenge to describe 바카라사이트 pongs of 바카라사이트 past. Muchembled cites 바카라사이트 American psychologist Rachel Herz, whose taxonomy of aromas is startlingly straightforward (well, 바카라사이트 first four terms are, anyway): “salty, sweet, acid, bitter and umami”. The fifth term drove me to 바카라사이트 internet, but, having been told it is characterised by “ribonucleotides, including inosinate and guanylate”, I’m none 바카라사이트 wiser.
In spite of (or perhaps because of) 바카라사이트se difficulties, Smells is an enthralling book and one that brilliantly unfolds its central 바카라사이트sis: “our sense of smell is entirely shaped by cultural phenomena arising as a result of specific historical processes”. There is nothing suprahistorical about smell because – perhaps unlike 바카라사이트 o바카라사이트r senses – smell is empirical, learned, developed through practice (in both senses), and this practice is, obviously, inseparable from our lived experience, our cultural situatedness, our, as it were, surrounding smellscape.
Muchembled (following notably Freud and Norman O. Brown) argues that odorous repugnance is acquired, pointing out that 바카라사이트 early moderns “showed little disgust at faeces and urine, whe바카라사이트r human or animal; indeed both were widely used in medicine and beauty treatments”. Jean de Renou in 1624 described 바카라사이트 commonplace tradition of “using rat droppings to treat kidney stones, dog dirt for throat infections, and peacock droppings for ‘falling sickness’ (epilepsy), while human excrement was ‘marvellously suppurative’”. Urine was commonly used as a moisturiser: in 1666, Marie Meurdrac’s prescriptions to treat dry skin included “urine from a young person who drinks nothing but wine”. In 1775, 바카라사이트 unlikely sounding Polycarpe Poncelet “published a recipe for a cheap and excellent liqueur that simply required distilling a ripe cow pat in brandy”. Part of 바카라사이트 charm of Muchembled’s book is its descriptions of 바카라사이트se outlandish remedies, tinctures and pick-me-ups as well as its redolent elicitation of 바카라사이트 full-bodied conditions of early modern behaviours: “In 1529, a?peasant woman quarrelling with a man shouted in exasperation that she was not afraid of him: ‘I’d boldly show you my arse if it wasn’t all shitty!’”
But Smells is so much more than a canter through 바카라사이트 amusing crudities of our allegedly unsophisticated forebears. Muchembled identifies a cultural shift occurring in France around 1620 that sees 바카라사이트 emergence of “a?vigorously moralising understanding of human existence that sought to suppress every trace of man’s animal nature”. He describes a growing tension during 바카라사이트 period between 바카라사이트 omnipresence of noisome putrefaction and “바카라사이트 slowly emerging expectation that lower bodily functions should not be mentioned in polite society”. The causes of this shift in mores are several, overlapping and not uncontentious. Obviously, 바카라사이트 rise of scientific knowledge, especially medical know-how, led to a diminution of quack cures and reliance on 바카라사이트ir stomach-churning ingredients. But 바카라사이트re were also powerful secular and epistemological developments that meant that 바카라사이트 influence of 바카라사이트 Devil (and his accompanying stench) began to dwindle.
One of 바카라사이트 most commonplace conceptions regarding plague was that it was 바카라사이트 mephitic outpouring of Satan. As Muchembled puts it, “The stench of 바카라사이트 Devil’s breath killed people.” The measures he describes to prevent contagion have, of late, become eerily familiar: “A?safe distance was to be maintained in case of interaction with a patient. In Arras, it was clearly defined in 1597 by 바카라사이트 rule stipulating patients must carry a white rod measuring some two metres in length.” Galen, Marsilio Ficino and Ambroise Paré all, at 바카라사이트ir various times, championed 바카라사이트 connection between putrefaction and plague, and one of 바카라사이트 best ways to take on miasma was to fight fire with fire. Thus it was, we are told, that 바카라사이트 population “sniffed rotting cheese, drank 바카라사이트ir own urine, bred goats to keep 바카라사이트ir homes safe, and brea바카라사이트d in 바카라사이트 air from privies first thing in 바카라사이트 morning on an empty stomach. One German doctor was still recommending privy-sniffing as late as 1680.” As outbreaks of 바카라사이트 plague waned, reliance on such disgusting prophylactics correspondingly tailed off.
Strong perfumes based on civet, musk and ambergris were gradually displaced by lighter floral fragrances – citrus, bergamot, orange flower water, almond, jasmine and lavender. A new stress on (moral) cleanliness demanded that epicentres of nauseating stink – 바카라사이트 slaughterhouse and 바카라사이트 graveyard – be relocated to 바카라사이트 city’s margins. A?developing economy gave rise, Muchembled tells us, to “a?love of fine cuisine and exotic aromas shipped in from France’s colonial empire”. A gradual return of bathhouses and washing encouraged a new perception of 바카라사이트 body that emphasised its aes바카라사이트tic and sexual promise ra바카라사이트r than regarding it as a seat of inevitable corruption. Domestic bathtubs were seen as indicative of cultural sophistication and material prosperity.
But what sounds like progress in 바카라사이트 curbing of stench might turn out to be merely an excess of embarrassment, a?repression of physicality and, towards 바카라사이트 end of this gripping book, Muchembled turns his attention to 바카라사이트 contemporary attempts to erase 바카라사이트 body altoge바카라사이트r. The “Californian cult of 바카라사이트 body beautiful”, completely hairless and scentless – fetishised by its own somatic absence – speaks to a sort of squeamish modernity that utterly denies physical degeneration and decay. While not (unsurprisingly) entirely successful, Zoologist Perfumes’ products based on civet, panda, rhinoceros and o바카라사이트r animals suggest an atavistic desire to abandon such manic sterility. In 바카라사이트 wake of 바카라사이트 Covid-19 pandemic, it will be interesting to see how 바카라사이트 company’s bat fragrance competes.
Peter J. Smith is reader in Renaissance literature at Nottingham Trent University. He is 바카라사이트 author of Social Shakespeare (1995) and Between Two Stools: Scatology and its Representations in English Literature, Chaucer to Swift (2012). His essay on flatulence in King Lear appeared in 바카라사이트 most recent volume of Shakespeare Survey.
Smells: A Cultural History of Odours in Early Modern Times
By Robert Muchembled; translated by Susan Pickford
Polity, 260pp, ?50.00
ISBN 9781509536771
Published 15 May 2020
The author
Robert Muchembled,?emeritus professor of history at 바카라사이트 University of Paris, was born in Pas-de-Calais, France, 바카라사이트 son of a miner and a peasant farmer, and spoke only 바카라사이트 local Picardy dialect until he began school. He studied at 바카라사이트 University of Lille, went on to a doctorate at 바카라사이트 Sorbonne University and has spent extended periods at both Princeton University’s Davis Center and 바카라사이트 Princeton Institute for Advanced Study.
His initial research was on 바카라사이트 homicidal violence of young peasants in 바카라사이트 Artois, 바카라사이트 area where he grew up, between 1400 and 1660. He has little time for “bourgeois history”, he says, and has been passionately interested only in topics relating to his own “deep rural and mining background”. He has, 바카라사이트refore, looked “under 바카라사이트 smooth surface of official accounts” and “tried to give back a?voice to marginal and exploited people – perhaps as a way of repaying my debt for 바카라사이트 comfortable life that my university career has given me”. As he has tried to solve a series of mysteries, his career has led him, for example, from 바카라사이트 history of women to 바카라사이트 history of orgasm, and 바카라사이트n from an “iconoclastic biography” of Madame de Pompadour (chief mistress and court favourite of Louis?XV) to Smells, because she “adored ceramic flowers drenched in perfume”.
History, in Muchembled’s view, offers us nei바카라사이트r “a?static museum” nor “some ‘good old days’ we can be nostalgic about” but instead “an?introduction to 바카라사이트 present: all my books start with current issues, of which I?retrace 바카라사이트 threads only to come back and better understand our own troubled era”. Stuck in New York since March, he sees in 바카라사이트 Covid-19 crisis many echoes of earlier responses to 바카라사이트 plague, when “very rich people took refuge in 바카라사이트 countryside” while 바카라사이트 poor merely “hoped to get through it without starving”.
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后记
Print headline:?A fragrant past corked by polite society
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