How did the imposter get away with it? Who believed he was the real Martin Guerre?
The Return of Martin Guerre (1983). Please answer questions below
1. Finlay in his critique of The Return of Martin Guerre, Finlay claims that Davis imagined the
following element in her interpretation:
1) The cooperation between Bertrande de Rols and the fake Martin Guerre, Arnaud du Tilh
2) Bertrande as a headstrong, independent woman
3) Arnaud du Tilh’s Protestantism
4) Coras’ “identification” with Arnaud du Tilh.
Do you agree or disagree? Please provide precise page references to The Return of Martin
Guerre and contrast Davis’ assertions with her primary text, Coras’, The Miraculous Story.
2. How did the imposter get away with it? Who believed he was the real Martin Guerre? Who
did not?
3. Is the Return of Martin Guerre, a microhistory? Davis never uses the expression in the book
but everybody including Bell think that the book is an example of the microhistorical approach
Consider Davis’ methods and the subject of her research. You might consider the ways in which
The Return of Martin Guerre draws upon or even imitates features in The Cheese & the Worms?
4. In the article by David Bell that we read last week, Bell criticizes microhistorians for being too
“cinematic” and too eager to reach a large audience often at the expense of professional
standards. He also complains that micro historians are “frustratingly incapable of integrating
micro analysis with larger historical generalization that formour understanding of the paest.”
Do you think that The Return of Martin Guerre suffers from the weaknesses Bell complains of?
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