The Beggar and the Professor: A Sixteenth-Century Family Saga [Paperback]

Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie (Author), Arthur Goldhammer (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 6, 1998 | ISBN-10: 0226473244 | ISBN-13: 978-0226473246

From a wealth of vivid autobiographical writings, Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie reconstructs the extraordinary life of Thomas Platter and the lives of his sons. With masterful erudition, Le Roy Ladurie deepens and expands the historical contexts of these accounts and, in the process, brings to life the customs, perceptions, and character of an age poised at the threshold of modernity.

"Le Roy Ladurie paints a remarkably contemporary picture of life in the sixteenth century. . . . It's a good story, told with a deft narrative touch."—Michael S. Kimmel, The Nation

"Le Roy Ladurie is a master of the representative detail and uses the Platters' lives as a means to see a whole century 'through a glass, darkly'."—The Independent

"Le Roy Ladurie has not only thoroughly sketched out the Platters' particular brand of gusto, he has also made it seem a defining characteristic of the sixteenth century."—The New Republic

"All [of] the drama and pathos of a Disney film."—Emily Eakin, Lingua Franca

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

In The Beggar and the Professor, Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie makes the Platter family the nexus of his fascinating exposition of the 16th century. In and of themselves, the Platter men were intriguing fellows; the fact that they were also prolific writers, filling diaries, memoirs, and correspondence with the details of their lives, makes them a godsend to historians. Following the Platters' paper trail, Le Roy Ladurie fashions an engaging portrait of a remarkable family. Thomas Platter Sr., for example, started life as an unlettered shepherd, spent his childhood roaming central Europe in a gang of thieves and panhandlers, and managed to pick up both literacy and a trade in his travels. By turns a printer, landowner, healer, and teacher, Platter was the embodiment of a Renaissance man. His eldest son, Felix, became a well-respected doctor, as did his youngest surviving boy, Thomas Jr.

Using the private lives of the Platters, Le Roy Ladurie illuminates the dangerous times in which they lived. Martin Luther precipitated a violent religious reformation; brigands ran wild through the countryside, and medical students crept into graveyards by night to dig up newly buried bodies for dissection. On this wild ride into history, the author's insightful observations guide the reader unerringly through the customs, practices, and upheavals of the times. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Library Journal

The distinguished French historian and author Le Roy Ladurie (The Ancien Regime, Blackwell, 1996) here provides a fascinating account of the rise of a dirt-poor Swiss peasant, Thomas Platter (1499-1582), who, after years of wandering around Europe as a beggar, acquired an education, and by combining the careers of lecturer in Greek and Latin, printer, and businessman, achieved fortune and social respectability in Basel. This highly original history is based on Thomas's memoirs and diaries and those of his illustrious physician son Felix (1536-1614). Their lives, set against the tremendous intellectual changes we classify as the Renaissance and the religious revolution we call the Reformation, offer an enormous amount of fresh information about diet and health, marriage and family, and travel and social mobility. Goldhammer has produced a smooth and lively translation, but it would have benefited from more careful editing to eliminate the many repetitions and gratuitous snobbisms. Recommended for both academic and research libraries.?Bennett D. Hill, Georgetown Univ., Washington, D.C.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 416 pages
• Publisher: University Of Chicago Press (June 6, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0226473244
• ISBN-13: 978-0226473246
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 5.9 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #938,806 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A fascinating narrative of Europe during the Reformation., July 20, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: The Beggar and the Professor: A Sixteenth-Century Family Saga (Paperback)

Readers should understand that this is not a historical novel, but a detailed narrative about Europe during a period of great religious, political, social and cultural upheaval. Tracing the lives of the Platter men, Thomas and his two sons, Felix and Thomas, Jr., the author reveals a society often overlooked by modern readers. While most historians deal with the political side only, LaDurie focuses on the religious turbulence that ultimately resulted in a new Europe. The fact that Thomas Platter, Sr., an illiterate peasant, was able to rise to a position of respected teacher and publisher, one who was a contemporary of Calvin, and published his Institutes, tells us much about the opportunities for social advancement during the period. Felix's experiences in southern France and his relationships with Spanish Jews sheds a great deal of light on another portion of "hidden history." The influence of the "New World" is also beginning to be felt across! the continent at this time. For any student of social geography or religious history, this book is an absolute treasure chest.

1 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars The interesting facts are not worth the wait., June 13, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: The Beggar and the Professor: A Sixteenth-Century Family Saga (Hardcover)

Although there are interesting facts about life in the Sixteenth Century, they are few and far between in this book. Probably a good doctorial thesis, this is a tedious, at times redundant, read