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Flesh and Spirit: Private Life in Early Modern Germany: Private Life in Early Modern Germany / Steven Ozment.

By: Steven Ozment
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Viking/Allen Lane
ISBN: 0670883921
ISBN-13: 9780670883929
Released: 13 Sep 1999
RRP: £19.51
Average Rating:

Customer Reviews

Fascinating yet frustrating - By: , 12 Dec 2003
Steven Ozment looks at the family in early modern Germany by taking a series of concrete examples relating to the citizens of Nuremberg. His main aim is to reassess the argument that a sharp distinction existed between the modern & pre-industrial age family. In his own words, this book argues that ‘the family of the past was neither as wholesome as romantics portray it, nor as cruel as the cynics suspect’ (Introduction, x). There were elements of modern in the ‘traditional’ as much as things that are alien to modern notions of family. The stark difference lies in that the family as an institution had firmer control over its members then than now because of its social, economic & political importance.

The decision to put three stars to this book was a compromise & perhaps too generous. This reviewer would give five stars for the materials Ozment uncovered, three for how he has written & probably one for things he did not mention & lack of context.

Let’s start with the good side. The materials he has used are truly fascinating & they are as close as anyone will get to the experiences of early modern people. Readers will be taken through the hopes & anguishes of a young couple, torments & joys of being parents as well as what students were up to many centuries ago (lots of drinking – some things never change). Many pages are devoted to direct quotations & this is refreshing. His use of visual sources is instructive & fun. Ozment writes well: succinct & smooth.

However, now we come to the three-star bit, where Ozment’s presentation is somewhat choppy. He divides his chapters into many bits with a sub-heading each, many of which are about 2 pages long or even shorter. Unless the reader has attention span shorter than the proverbial average goldfish, these sub-divisions interrupt the flow of the book. Furthermore, this book would have benefited from a more rigorous editing. Some of the dates cannot be right, Martin Gertmann apparently lived only one year (1527-1528) but somehow managed to dine with Lorenz Dürnhofer in 1570 (Chapter 5, p. 244). Siebenbürgen is Transylvania & different from Moldavia & the Hussite legacy is somewhat debatable since what ‘Protestants’ they were remain unclear (p. 235). If you are not aware that Hermannstadt is now callled Sibiu, it will be difficult to place it on a map unless you have a pre-1918 one. The use of German Nürnberg instead of widely-accepted anglicised Nuremberg without explanation is somewhat puzzling (why doesn’t he use Venezia instead of Venice to be consistent?). These on their own may seem minor matters but cumulatively they do become awkward.

The reallly disappointing points relate firstly to the lack of coherence in materials he presents & secondly to the lack of wider context thus his ability to reassess the pre-industrial family. As it stands, they are nice stories & that’s it. How do the individual cases relate to each other within the rubric of ‘early modern German family’? This aspect remains unexplored to a large extent. One should not over-theorise from particulars but unless there are overalll explanatory models, it is difficult to make sense of the materials he presented. This is especiallly the case as the source base is quite impressive. ‘Rite of passage’ is mentioned twice but without further elaboration on the theme. By alll accounts most of the occasions that he looks at are classic cases of rites of passage: baptism, marriage, giving birth, death, leaving to a foreign country to study etc. Much is written about the transitional period or adolescence – between being a child & an adult – a case of liminal period in one’s life perhaps? More seriously, the families who make their appearances in this book are no humble people – they are patricians or pastors. Maids, servants & other humbler sorts do appear but then they seem to disappear quite quickly. It is accepted that the sources are scarcer in this respect, but it is not impossible to search for the lives of the poor. Would you be able to talk about ‘Private Life in Early Modern Germany’ by looking at examples of the elite? Nuremberg (or if you like, Nürnberg) was no ordinary city within the Holy Roman Empire & how much of his findings are applicable to other parts of the German-speaking Europe? These questions are not answered since they are not reallly raised.

Thus this book leaves readers disappointed. But it contains good stories & makes you think, therefore in final analysis, it is definitely worth reading – even if it sounds a bit contradictory.