Paper memory : a sixteenth-century townsman writes his world /
Lundin, Matthew, 1974-
Paper memory : a sixteenth-century townsman writes his world / Matthew Lundin. - Cambridge, Mass. : Harvard University Press, 2012. - 1 online resource (329 pages) : illustrations - - Harvard historical studies ; 179 . - Harvard historical studies ; v. 179. .
Includes bibliographical references (pages 305-315) and index.
Frontmatter -- Contents -- Introduction -- Chapter one A Secret Legacy -- Chapter two My Father's House -- Chapter three The Patriarch -- Chapter four The Middle Is Best -- Chapter five A Holy Household -- Chapter six As If We Had Never Been -- Chapter seven Spare No Quill, Ink, or Paper -- Chapter eight A New World -- Conclusion -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Acknowledgments -- Index.
Paper Memory tells of one man's mission to preserve for posterity the memory of everyday life in sixteenth-century Germany. Lundin takes us inside the mind of an undistinguished German burgher, Hermann Weinsberg, whose early-modern writings sought to make sense of changes that were unsettling the foundations of his world. Paper Memory tells the story of one man's mission to preserve for posterity the memory of everyday life in sixteenth-century Germany. Matthew Lundin takes us inside the mind of an undistinguished German burgher named Hermann Weinsberg, whose personal writings allow us to witness firsthand the great transformations of early modernity: the crisis of the Reformation, the rise of an urban middle class, and the information explosion of the print revolution. This sensitive, faithful portrait reveals a man who sought to make sense of the changes that were unsettling the foundations of his world. Weinsberg's decision to undertake the monumental task of documenting his life was astonishing, since he was neither prince nor bishop, but a Catholic lawyer from Cologne with no special claim to fame or fortune. Although he knew that his contemporaries would consider his work vain and foolish, he dutifully recorded the details of his existence, from descriptions of favorite meals to catalogs of his sleeping habits, from the gossip of quarreling neighbors to confessions of his private hopes, fears, and beliefs. More than fifty years--and thousands of pages--later, Weinsberg conferred his Gedenkbuch, or Memory Book, to his descendants, charging them to ensure its safekeeping, for without his careful chronicle, "it would be as if we had never been." Desperate to save his past from oblivion, Weinsberg hoped to write himself into the historical record. Paper Memory rescues this not-so-ordinary man from obscurity, as Lundin's perceptive and graceful prose recovers his extraordinary story
English.
0674067657 (electronic bk.) 9780674067653 (electronic bk.) 0674071239 9780674071230 (alk. paper) (alk. paper)
10.4159/harvard.9780674067653 doi 40021479938
22573/ctt2f1gd1 JSTOR
Weinsberg, Hermann von, 1518-approximately 1598.
Weinsberg, Hermann von, 1518-approximately 1598. Gedenkbuch.
Weinsberg, Hermann von, 1518-approximately 1598
Catholic Church--History--16th century.
Église catholique--Histoire--16e siècle.
Catholic Church.
1500-1599
City council members--Germany--Cologne--Biography.
Diarists--Germany--Cologne--Biography.
Conseillers municipaux--Allemagne--Cologne--Biographies.
BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY--Historical.
HISTORY--Europe--Germany.
HISTORY--Renaissance.
City council members.
Civilization.
Diarists.
Intellectual life.
Manners and customs.
Geschiedbronnen.
Cologne (Germany)--History--16th century.
Cologne (Germany)--Social life and customs--16th century.
Cologne (Germany)--Intellectual life--16th century.
Germany--Civilization--16th century.
Europe--Intellectual life--16th century.
Europe--Church history--16th century.
Cologne (Germany)--Biography.
Allemagne--Civilisation--16e siècle.
Europe--Vie intellectuelle--16e siècle.
Europe--Histoire religieuse--16e siècle.
Europe.
Germany.
Germany--Cologne.
Keulen (stad)
Multi-User.
Biography
Electronic books.
Biographies.
Church history.
History.
Biographies.
Biographies.
DD901.C77 / W46 2012
943/.551403092 B
Paper memory : a sixteenth-century townsman writes his world / Matthew Lundin. - Cambridge, Mass. : Harvard University Press, 2012. - 1 online resource (329 pages) : illustrations - - Harvard historical studies ; 179 . - Harvard historical studies ; v. 179. .
Includes bibliographical references (pages 305-315) and index.
Frontmatter -- Contents -- Introduction -- Chapter one A Secret Legacy -- Chapter two My Father's House -- Chapter three The Patriarch -- Chapter four The Middle Is Best -- Chapter five A Holy Household -- Chapter six As If We Had Never Been -- Chapter seven Spare No Quill, Ink, or Paper -- Chapter eight A New World -- Conclusion -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Acknowledgments -- Index.
Paper Memory tells of one man's mission to preserve for posterity the memory of everyday life in sixteenth-century Germany. Lundin takes us inside the mind of an undistinguished German burgher, Hermann Weinsberg, whose early-modern writings sought to make sense of changes that were unsettling the foundations of his world. Paper Memory tells the story of one man's mission to preserve for posterity the memory of everyday life in sixteenth-century Germany. Matthew Lundin takes us inside the mind of an undistinguished German burgher named Hermann Weinsberg, whose personal writings allow us to witness firsthand the great transformations of early modernity: the crisis of the Reformation, the rise of an urban middle class, and the information explosion of the print revolution. This sensitive, faithful portrait reveals a man who sought to make sense of the changes that were unsettling the foundations of his world. Weinsberg's decision to undertake the monumental task of documenting his life was astonishing, since he was neither prince nor bishop, but a Catholic lawyer from Cologne with no special claim to fame or fortune. Although he knew that his contemporaries would consider his work vain and foolish, he dutifully recorded the details of his existence, from descriptions of favorite meals to catalogs of his sleeping habits, from the gossip of quarreling neighbors to confessions of his private hopes, fears, and beliefs. More than fifty years--and thousands of pages--later, Weinsberg conferred his Gedenkbuch, or Memory Book, to his descendants, charging them to ensure its safekeeping, for without his careful chronicle, "it would be as if we had never been." Desperate to save his past from oblivion, Weinsberg hoped to write himself into the historical record. Paper Memory rescues this not-so-ordinary man from obscurity, as Lundin's perceptive and graceful prose recovers his extraordinary story
English.
0674067657 (electronic bk.) 9780674067653 (electronic bk.) 0674071239 9780674071230 (alk. paper) (alk. paper)
10.4159/harvard.9780674067653 doi 40021479938
22573/ctt2f1gd1 JSTOR
Weinsberg, Hermann von, 1518-approximately 1598.
Weinsberg, Hermann von, 1518-approximately 1598. Gedenkbuch.
Weinsberg, Hermann von, 1518-approximately 1598
Catholic Church--History--16th century.
Église catholique--Histoire--16e siècle.
Catholic Church.
1500-1599
City council members--Germany--Cologne--Biography.
Diarists--Germany--Cologne--Biography.
Conseillers municipaux--Allemagne--Cologne--Biographies.
BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY--Historical.
HISTORY--Europe--Germany.
HISTORY--Renaissance.
City council members.
Civilization.
Diarists.
Intellectual life.
Manners and customs.
Geschiedbronnen.
Cologne (Germany)--History--16th century.
Cologne (Germany)--Social life and customs--16th century.
Cologne (Germany)--Intellectual life--16th century.
Germany--Civilization--16th century.
Europe--Intellectual life--16th century.
Europe--Church history--16th century.
Cologne (Germany)--Biography.
Allemagne--Civilisation--16e siècle.
Europe--Vie intellectuelle--16e siècle.
Europe--Histoire religieuse--16e siècle.
Europe.
Germany.
Germany--Cologne.
Keulen (stad)
Multi-User.
Biography
Electronic books.
Biographies.
Church history.
History.
Biographies.
Biographies.
DD901.C77 / W46 2012
943/.551403092 B