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Alain Corbin
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The Foul and the Fragrant: Odor and the French Social Imagination Reprint Edition

by Alain Corbin (Author)
4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 10 ratings
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In a book whose insight and originality have already had a dazzling impact in France, Alain Corbin has put the sense of smell on the historical map. He conjures up the dominion that the combined forces of smells--from the seductress's civet to the ubiquitous excremental odors of city cesspools--exercised over the lives (and deaths) of the French in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
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  1. ISBN-10
    0674311760
  2. ISBN-13
    978-0674311763
  3. Edition
    Reprint
  4. Publisher
    Harvard University Press
  5. Publication date
    January 1, 1988
  6. Language
    English
  7. Dimensions
    6.5 x 1 x 9.5 inches
  8. Print length
    320 pages
  9. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

[This book] is not only serious, but interesting and important; one of those studies that profoundly alters our understanding of both social life and history. (Joan W. Scott New York Times Book Review)

At once encyclopedic and impressionistic, The Foul and the Fragrant is...a masterful exposition of odors and the perception of odors from 1750 to the "Pasteurian revolution" of the late nineteenth century...It is an important and, at times, fascinating voyage...Exploring with imagination and audacity the changing role of smell in the anxieties and antagonisms of the modern world, Corbin reminds us that social history, too long sanitized and too often abstract, must make room for the senses. (Michael Burns Los Angeles Times Book Review)

The story has never been told more brilliantly, nor with such verve and perceptiveness. That alone would make Corbin's book worth reading, but one may read it as well for a deeper understanding of the roots of modern urban anxieties about the unwholesome...Corbin's book is a tour de force. (Simon Schama New Republic)

About the Author

Alain Corbin is Professor of History at the Sorbonne.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Harvard University Press; Reprint edition (January 1, 1988)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 320 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0674311760
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0674311763
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.05 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.5 x 1 x 9.5 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 10 ratings

About the author

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Alain Corbin

Alain Corbin

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Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars
4.4 out of 5
10 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Pioneer
5.0 out of 5 stars Francophiles YES!
Reviewed in the United States on May 3, 2014
Verified Purchase
I am a Francophile/Francophone and I have not put this book down since I got it. Filled with facts and told in a compelling way. This was recommended to me by an Art Scholar and she was right. Get through the first 20 pages on cesspools and you're ready for the fun parts. Highly recommend.
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Kindle Customer
4.0 out of 5 stars smell
Reviewed in the United States on November 21, 2009
Verified Purchase
Tis is fantastic book if you are intrested in history written from other point of view then we are used to.
I have understood partly how people lived couple hundred years ago and this is great
4 people found this helpful
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Pan
4.0 out of 5 stars Four Stars
Reviewed in the United States on February 10, 2016
Verified Purchase
This was very interesting.
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Top reviews from other countries

B MacDermott
5.0 out of 5 stars Such care and thought from the bookseller!
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 18, 2021
Verified Purchase
Bought for my son’s birthday - he had told me this was one of the few books he would love to own after using it for his PhD work. He was delighted! It was carefully preserved and came with a lovely note from the seller!
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