The Cheese and the Worms

The Cosmos of a Sixteenth-Century Miller

By: Carlo Ginzburg, Anne C. Tedeschi - translator, John Tedeschi - translator

Narrated by: P.J. Ochlan

Length: 7 hrs and 57 mins

Publisher's Summary

The Cheese and the Worms is an incisive study of popular culture in the 16th century as seen through the eyes of one man, the miller known as Menocchio, who was accused of heresy during the Inquisition and sentenced to death. Carlo Ginzburg uses the trial records to illustrate the religious and social conflicts of the society in which Menocchio lived.  

For a common miller, Menocchio was surprisingly literate. In his trial testimony, he made references to more than a dozen books, including the Bible, Boccaccio's Decameron, Mandeville's Travels, and a "mysterious" book that may have been the Koran. And what he read he recast in terms familiar to him, as in his own version of the creation: "All was chaos, that is earth, air, water, and fire were mixed together; and of that bulk a mass formed - just as cheese is made out of milk - and worms appeared in it, and these were the angels."  

In a thoughtful new preface, Ginzburg offers his own corollary to Menocchio's story as he considers the discrepancy between the intentions of the writer and what gets written. The Italian miller's story and Ginzburg's work continue to resonate with modern listeners because they focus on how oral and written culture are inextricably linked.

©1976 Giulio Einaudi editore; English translation copyright 1980 by The Johns Hopkins University Press and Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd.; Edition with new preface copyright 2013 by The Johns Hopkins University Press (P)2019 Tantor

entertaining history

Mennochio is great, very interesting glimpse into the past world. Ginsburg does a great job.

Excellent

I was completely captivated. Its like one part historical analysis and one part detective story. Highly recommend for anyone interested in social history or medieval times.

Review

Great Micro-History. Story about a very entertaining and the author uses Resources that are available to him the best he can while using historical imagination at the same time.

Poor Mennochio!

This is the only historical text I've read that kept me just as attentive and interested as a novel. The central subject of this novel, Dominico Scandella, feels like someone I could sit and have a fascinating conversation about religion with, and the presentation of historical context around his life story is very interesting.

Great book, robotic narrator

It is surprising that the narrator of this book is an actual human and not a robot, because the reading and delivery is so mechanical and emotionless. This book is an absolute classic, and it is wonderful to have an audiobook version of the text. However the book suffers from the robotic delivery of the narrator, unfortunately.

Fascinating content but not ideal for an audiobook

The story of a sixteenth century miller accused of being a heretic by the Inquisition, based on documentation produced at the time. The story itself is really interesting, as are the philosophies of the miller and the circumstances in which he found himself. However, the academic content and contextualisation which are central to the book make it very heavy to listen to. P.J Ochlan does his best with very dense material, and I got the general jist of the arguments Ginzburg was making, but it was difficult to fully concentrate on the detail and take in all the points that were being made. The language is not conducive to an audiobook, and I would recommend reading the text in print instead for a full appreciation of it.