Obscure Readings....
Dec. 17th, 2007 11:44 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
j_cheneyWell, I said that I would review these when finished, so here's what I've been poring over:
The Early Slavs by PM Barford
A comparatively hard-to-read text, it covers approximately 600-100AD in all Slavic societies. Given that, one can figure that it covers them all with very little detail. That was my main problem with this book: it gave me less detail than I wanted. As always, with texts that attempt to cover this period, it has very little to draw upon since there are so few (basically none) native written texts to work with. Overall impression: Too broad a topic to be useful to me. I will choose more carefully next time.
Not all that useful...
Sex and Society in the World of the Orthodox Slavs, 900-1700 by Eve Levin
Far easier to read, and in a few spots, too much detail. This gave a really interesting picture of Slavic life under the relatively new Orthodox church. Because the writer relied mostly on church records, it is heavily one-sided. Perhaps a more apt title would be "The Orthodox Church and How it felt about Slavic Society". There is little presented here about the less controlled groups among the Slavs, where dual-religion was commonly accepted for centuries.
However, a few very fascinating things came out of this book, including the church's official stance on the relationship between sex and children. Thus procreation, in the Slavic Orthodox view, officially did not result from sexual intercourse. The explanation for this is rather involved and makes their defense of marriage particularly complicated (BTW, priests in this church were permitted to marry, and generally were so as to limit the amount of sinning.) To be short, children were a blessing from God in reward for a chastely lived life. Children born out of wed-lock were necessarily a result of sin, although the church stopped short of saying precisely what sin. It's complicated.
A second thing that came out of this book that interested me was the author's statement about the Slavic concept of romantic love. Pretty much didn't exist. One married whom they were told, and tried not to get too 'involved' with their spouse. Love was primarily to be bestowed on one's children and friends, not a spouse or lover. The existence of emotional love inside a marriage was known and acknowledged, as was the existence of lust, both inside and outside the marriage. The two emotions, however, were not connected. This is portrayed as a social norm in the book, which is an interesting concept.
A third, tiny tidbit in here was the church's definition of whom one could marry. Any relationship closer than eight degrees was forbidden (so no marriages closer than fourth? cousin). However, this church extended this to include 'spiritual' relationships. So that meant no marriage with anyone related by marriage either, or even by blood-brotherhood. The common wisdom of the time suggested that a bride must come from 'five villages away'....and that explains why. (I'm really glad I found that out, BTW, because I got one of my characters in big trouble with the priest this way.)
Reccommended for people doing in-depth research into this area...
The Chinese Village by Martin Yang
This was an easy to read, well-balanced book. I enjoyed its level of detail, and would easily reccommend it to anyone looking for an overview of daily life in a Chinese Village. This book was written during in Communist era (1945), but I suspect that village life has actually changed little in its essence. The best part of this book was its coverage of family structure. The chapter headings listed below give a good idea of the information covered.
The Village Site/The People/Agriculture/Standard of Living
The Components of a Family/Intrafamilial Relationships
The Family as a Primary Economic Group/The Family as a Primary Ceremonial Group
Marriage/Child Training/The Rise and Fall of a Family
Village Organization/Village Conflicts/Village Leaders
Intervillage Relationships
There were a few tiny spots I could have used details in, but for the most part, this book covered most of my questions about Chinese social structure. Note that this is a book about 1945 Chinese society near the Yellow Sea, so it doesn't accurately depict, say, northern Chinese village structure in the 1500s, but it's an excellent place to start. ;o)
So, next up? I ran across this today while researching Russian ghosts....
An Englishwoman in Russia; Impressions of the Society and Manners of the Russians at Home by a Lady, Ten Years Resident in That Country (c. 1855)
Gotta have it!!
The Early Slavs by PM Barford
A comparatively hard-to-read text, it covers approximately 600-100AD in all Slavic societies. Given that, one can figure that it covers them all with very little detail. That was my main problem with this book: it gave me less detail than I wanted. As always, with texts that attempt to cover this period, it has very little to draw upon since there are so few (basically none) native written texts to work with. Overall impression: Too broad a topic to be useful to me. I will choose more carefully next time.
Not all that useful...
Sex and Society in the World of the Orthodox Slavs, 900-1700 by Eve Levin
Far easier to read, and in a few spots, too much detail. This gave a really interesting picture of Slavic life under the relatively new Orthodox church. Because the writer relied mostly on church records, it is heavily one-sided. Perhaps a more apt title would be "The Orthodox Church and How it felt about Slavic Society". There is little presented here about the less controlled groups among the Slavs, where dual-religion was commonly accepted for centuries.
However, a few very fascinating things came out of this book, including the church's official stance on the relationship between sex and children. Thus procreation, in the Slavic Orthodox view, officially did not result from sexual intercourse. The explanation for this is rather involved and makes their defense of marriage particularly complicated (BTW, priests in this church were permitted to marry, and generally were so as to limit the amount of sinning.) To be short, children were a blessing from God in reward for a chastely lived life. Children born out of wed-lock were necessarily a result of sin, although the church stopped short of saying precisely what sin. It's complicated.
A second thing that came out of this book that interested me was the author's statement about the Slavic concept of romantic love. Pretty much didn't exist. One married whom they were told, and tried not to get too 'involved' with their spouse. Love was primarily to be bestowed on one's children and friends, not a spouse or lover. The existence of emotional love inside a marriage was known and acknowledged, as was the existence of lust, both inside and outside the marriage. The two emotions, however, were not connected. This is portrayed as a social norm in the book, which is an interesting concept.
A third, tiny tidbit in here was the church's definition of whom one could marry. Any relationship closer than eight degrees was forbidden (so no marriages closer than fourth? cousin). However, this church extended this to include 'spiritual' relationships. So that meant no marriage with anyone related by marriage either, or even by blood-brotherhood. The common wisdom of the time suggested that a bride must come from 'five villages away'....and that explains why. (I'm really glad I found that out, BTW, because I got one of my characters in big trouble with the priest this way.)
Reccommended for people doing in-depth research into this area...
The Chinese Village by Martin Yang
This was an easy to read, well-balanced book. I enjoyed its level of detail, and would easily reccommend it to anyone looking for an overview of daily life in a Chinese Village. This book was written during in Communist era (1945), but I suspect that village life has actually changed little in its essence. The best part of this book was its coverage of family structure. The chapter headings listed below give a good idea of the information covered.
The Village Site/The People/Agriculture/Standard of Living
The Components of a Family/Intrafamilial Relationships
The Family as a Primary Economic Group/The Family as a Primary Ceremonial Group
Marriage/Child Training/The Rise and Fall of a Family
Village Organization/Village Conflicts/Village Leaders
Intervillage Relationships
There were a few tiny spots I could have used details in, but for the most part, this book covered most of my questions about Chinese social structure. Note that this is a book about 1945 Chinese society near the Yellow Sea, so it doesn't accurately depict, say, northern Chinese village structure in the 1500s, but it's an excellent place to start. ;o)
So, next up? I ran across this today while researching Russian ghosts....
An Englishwoman in Russia; Impressions of the Society and Manners of the Russians at Home by a Lady, Ten Years Resident in That Country (c. 1855)
Gotta have it!!
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no subject
Date: 2007-12-17 06:47 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-12-17 06:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-12-17 06:54 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-12-17 06:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-12-17 07:03 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-12-17 07:11 pm (UTC)(I don't have Chinese ancestors, but I have Scottish, Norwegian and German ones....and they weren't all that much different when it comes down to it.)
no subject
Date: 2007-12-17 07:44 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-12-17 10:02 pm (UTC)Of course, I also remember hearing the story of some German township where the Lord? Mayor? Burgermeister? assumed his duties by copulating in the town square with a white mare. Maybe people were just weird back then....