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Il duello. Onore e aristocrazia nella storia europea
«Due piccoli simulacri d'uomo, precariamente sospesi nel mezzo dell'inconoscibile, volteggiano su se stessi e simultaneamente, con un meccanismo dei più perversi, si fanno saltare in aria, nel nulla».
La scena dei duellanti, luogo deputato di tanta parte dell'epos romantico-individualistico della cultura occidentale, possiede già di per sé un fascino particolare e inquietante, sospesa com'è tra sfida e tremore, esaltazione e dissipazione. Ma essa assume un significato ancora più profondo se viene esaminata nelle sue implicazioni storiche e nei suoi connotati sociali.
Simbolo esclusivo di rango, punto di riconoscimento delle prerogative nobiliari e maschili, il duello - prima ancora di essere una modalità di soluzione radicale di controversie tra eguali - è il luogo di esaltazione e di difesa dell'onore, e cioè di un discrimine sessuale e sociale che attraversa l'intera società europea, dagli albori del medioevo alle soglie della società contemporanea. Dalle truci ritualità di sanzione giuridica del «giudizio di Dio» all'esaltazione militarista del privilegio cavalleresco, trasposto poi dalle pratiche della guerra all'esercizio del dominio e del potere in pace, lo scontro mortale individualizzato giunge a toccare la difesa degli affetti e delle fedeltà più intimi. Il sangue, purché nell'identità di una medesima appartenenza sociale, può dunque essere sparso, reciprocamente scambiato, in un contesto di rituali simbolici e di regole iniziatiche che diviene sempre più rarefatto, ma non per questo meno importante.
Al fondo di tutto, si percepisce, nella lunga storia di quindici secoli, il crescere e il consolidarsi di un corpo militare - la cavalleria - che assume un ruolo sempre più centrale nell'affermare la supremazia bellica e l'egemonia politica dell'Europa sul mondo.
La scena dei duellanti, luogo deputato di tanta parte dell'epos romantico-individualistico della cultura occidentale, possiede già di per sé un fascino particolare e inquietante, sospesa com'è tra sfida e tremore, esaltazione e dissipazione. Ma essa assume un significato ancora più profondo se viene esaminata nelle sue implicazioni storiche e nei suoi connotati sociali.
Simbolo esclusivo di rango, punto di riconoscimento delle prerogative nobiliari e maschili, il duello - prima ancora di essere una modalità di soluzione radicale di controversie tra eguali - è il luogo di esaltazione e di difesa dell'onore, e cioè di un discrimine sessuale e sociale che attraversa l'intera società europea, dagli albori del medioevo alle soglie della società contemporanea. Dalle truci ritualità di sanzione giuridica del «giudizio di Dio» all'esaltazione militarista del privilegio cavalleresco, trasposto poi dalle pratiche della guerra all'esercizio del dominio e del potere in pace, lo scontro mortale individualizzato giunge a toccare la difesa degli affetti e delle fedeltà più intimi. Il sangue, purché nell'identità di una medesima appartenenza sociale, può dunque essere sparso, reciprocamente scambiato, in un contesto di rituali simbolici e di regole iniziatiche che diviene sempre più rarefatto, ma non per questo meno importante.
Al fondo di tutto, si percepisce, nella lunga storia di quindici secoli, il crescere e il consolidarsi di un corpo militare - la cavalleria - che assume un ruolo sempre più centrale nell'affermare la supremazia bellica e l'egemonia politica dell'Europa sul mondo.
438 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1986
8 people are currently reading
112 people want to read
About the author
Victor G. Kiernan
23 books14 followersProfessor Victor Gordon Kiernan was an English Marxist historian and a former member of the Communist Party Historians Group with a particular focus on the history of imperialism. He was Emeritus Professor of History at the University of Edinburgh.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
August 31, 2020
“Moore found “in dueling annals ‘astonishing proofs of the force and prevalence of wayward fashion over sound judgment and reason; of the despotic tyranny and usurpation of the flitting phantom ‘honour’”. Throughout history societies have lived within the walls and under the roof of ideas and conventions slowly drying up into things they could only half or fitfully believe in, but could not break away from, for fear of a disruption of the social fabric. Men are always dying, a Great War essayist wrote, ‘for other people’s opinions, prejudices they have inherited from someone else, ideas they have borrow second-hand. Modern man, more than his ancestors, has an overblown false consciousness, a brain stuffed not mainly with lessons from life, but with the thinking of whole generations and centuries, heavy enough to weigh down the feeble carrier; and today ghostly voices find sponsors to supply them with megaphones.
For the same shabby reasons men have always been killing, as well as being killed.” (Kiernan 328-329)
This book is extremely well-written in a scholarly sense, though perhaps too scholarly and demanding of a text for most laymen with only a passing interest in the subject to enjoy. If you have a background in literature, you will be delighted for the treasures found therein, for, in truth, it has perhaps 20 times more material on dueling gleaned from works of literature than it does from actual historical accounts, though the level of familiarity that Kiernan shows from his selective and erudite use of literary sources is nothing less than completely masterful. Not light reading, but a very important source for study on this topic, martial arts, culture, and the evolution of combat sports in the West in general—for bare knuckle boxing and gloved boxing arose out of dueling culture. I still wish for a more comprehensive study of dueling throughout European and world history—even though this study purports to be a study of dueling in Europe (and it does cover much of European history), the focus is largely on England and Scotland, though France, Germany, Spain, Russia, and Italy are also given substantial coverage. It would be a very important scholarly work indeed that covered dueling throughout the world throughout history.
One of the most interesting qualities of the text is its interrogation of the worth of dueling itself as it was represented and dealt with throughout the ages, and the relationship of this questioning to ideas and ideals of class, nobility, gentility, and violence itself.
For the same shabby reasons men have always been killing, as well as being killed.” (Kiernan 328-329)
This book is extremely well-written in a scholarly sense, though perhaps too scholarly and demanding of a text for most laymen with only a passing interest in the subject to enjoy. If you have a background in literature, you will be delighted for the treasures found therein, for, in truth, it has perhaps 20 times more material on dueling gleaned from works of literature than it does from actual historical accounts, though the level of familiarity that Kiernan shows from his selective and erudite use of literary sources is nothing less than completely masterful. Not light reading, but a very important source for study on this topic, martial arts, culture, and the evolution of combat sports in the West in general—for bare knuckle boxing and gloved boxing arose out of dueling culture. I still wish for a more comprehensive study of dueling throughout European and world history—even though this study purports to be a study of dueling in Europe (and it does cover much of European history), the focus is largely on England and Scotland, though France, Germany, Spain, Russia, and Italy are also given substantial coverage. It would be a very important scholarly work indeed that covered dueling throughout the world throughout history.
One of the most interesting qualities of the text is its interrogation of the worth of dueling itself as it was represented and dealt with throughout the ages, and the relationship of this questioning to ideas and ideals of class, nobility, gentility, and violence itself.
to-look-for
August 28, 2013لطالما أحببت فكرة المبارزة كفكرة
حيث يكون هناك نبل في المخاصمة و طريقة لاستعادة الشرف ممن قد يتجرأ على اهانتك بطريقة محترمة بينك و بينه
لا يسلم الشرف الرفيع من الأذى
حتى يراق على جوانبه الدم
مو متل عصرنا هلأ
أراذل خلق الله يهينون العباد عالطالعة و النازلة
-_-
حيث يكون هناك نبل في المخاصمة و طريقة لاستعادة الشرف ممن قد يتجرأ على اهانتك بطريقة محترمة بينك و بينه
لا يسلم الشرف الرفيع من الأذى
حتى يراق على جوانبه الدم
مو متل عصرنا هلأ
أراذل خلق الله يهينون العباد عالطالعة و النازلة
-_-
July 20, 2017
The book is informative but deceptively old-fashioned. Kiernan's remarks on "Eastern despotism" (contrasted to freewheeling Western aristos) calls back to De Quincey's writings on the Caesars. I was very surprised to find the book was published in 1988, because I would have placed it before WW2 at the very latest.
February 4, 2019
Dryer than I expected considering the subject matter, but helpful consideration of how dueling tied to exclusive privileges in the face of the bourgeois expansion in wealth and power in Europe.
I read this as part of my project to read one book from every aisle of Olin Library at Cornell; you can read my reactions to other books from the project here: https://jacobklehman.com/
A fuller review/reaction will follow on my website.
I read this as part of my project to read one book from every aisle of Olin Library at Cornell; you can read my reactions to other books from the project here: https://jacobklehman.com/
A fuller review/reaction will follow on my website.
October 8, 2020
An in-depth-- sometimes a little too in-depth-- history of the duel in Europe, plus a chapter about the duel in European colonies. The author ties the duel to the ascent and descent of aristocracy, and in a very Marxist take, talks about the way the duel filtered down to the lower classes and how it was used to maintain the ascendency of aristocrats. He argues it's limited to European and European countries for that specific reason. It's a fascinating book, full of interesting anecdotes, but it's also somewhat dry and can be off-putting, especially to the casual reader. There's also a bunch of weirdly Freudian criticism and several unexpected racist bits, like "Eastern despotism" and referring to black people as "Negros," which I would... not excuse but just slap a warning on if the book hadn't been written in 1988. I was expecting 1950s at the earliest.
So if you're really interested in duels and duelling, or in Marxist takes on the rise and fall of European aristocracy, look this book up. Otherwise, probably not your thing.
So if you're really interested in duels and duelling, or in Marxist takes on the rise and fall of European aristocracy, look this book up. Otherwise, probably not your thing.
December 23, 2016
This book is packed with anecdotes and references that only someone with both an extensive education in the arts and history, AND with a good memory for trivia will be able to understand. Heck, I've been a Jeopardy! contestant and many of these references go over my head.
When you combine that with some vaguely racist and sexist comments you end up with a book that reads like it was written in 1887 instead of 1987.
The author clearly knew his subject, but it's hard for me to easily recommend this to the lay reader.
When you combine that with some vaguely racist and sexist comments you end up with a book that reads like it was written in 1887 instead of 1987.
The author clearly knew his subject, but it's hard for me to easily recommend this to the lay reader.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews