Carlo Ginzburg teaches at UCLA, where he is the Franklin D. Murphy Chair of Italian Renaissance Studies. His other books in English include The Cheese and the Worms, No Island Is an Island: Four Glances at English Literature in a World Perspective, Ecstasies: Deciphering the Witches'Sabbath and The Night Battles: Witchcraft and Agrarian Cults in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries.

• 1. Making it Strange: The Prehistory of a Literary Device 2. Myth: Distance and Deceit 3. Representation: The Word, the Idea, the Thing 4. Ecce: On the Scriptural Roots of Christian Devotional Imagery 5. Idols and Likenesses: A Passage in Origen and Its Vicissitudes 6. Style: Inclusion and Exclusion 7. Distance and Perspective: Two Metaphors 8. To Kill a Chinese Mandarin: The Moral Implications of Distance 9. Pope Wojtyla's Slip

The essays show familiar qualities of Ginzburg's writing, his preference for unconventional perspectives, the vigour and sharpness of his reasoning and his mercurial yet highly disciplined intellectual zest. -- Luigi Meneghello Times Literary Supplement Although the text ranges over diverse sources, the essays are succinct and thought-provoking. Choice The scope of his primary sources-philosophers from Aristotle to Adorno, authors from the gospel writers to Proust, artists from Caravaggio to Magritte-befits a thinker of dazzling erudition and innovative brio... Ginzburg's work represents the finest in philosophical musings, as he coaxes the reader into new perceptions of the seemingly simple concept of distance, which he renders startlingly fresh. His breadth is intimidating, his depth daunting, and his conclusions staggering. Kirkus Reviews (starred review) Given Ginzburg's astonishing intellectual range - he dances with intimidating ease across half a dozen languages and two and a half millennia of writings, quoting his authorities with the easy familiarity of deep study - the essays dazzle as much as they inform. The book is an intellectual banquet. Ethics, Place and Environment

Carlo Ginzburg teaches at UCLA, where he is the Franklin D. Murphy Chair of Italian Renaissance Studies. His other books in English include The Cheese and the Worms, No Island Is an Island: Four Glances at English Literature in a World Perspective, Ecstasies: Deciphering the Witches'Sabbath and The Night Battles: Witchcraft and Agrarian Cults in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries.

• 1. Making it Strange: The Prehistory of a Literary Device 2. Myth: Distance and Deceit 3. Representation: The Word, the Idea, the Thing 4. Ecce: On the Scriptural Roots of Christian Devotional Imagery 5. Idols and Likenesses: A Passage in Origen and Its Vicissitudes 6. Style: Inclusion and Exclusion 7. Distance and Perspective: Two Metaphors 8. To Kill a Chinese Mandarin: The Moral Implications of Distance 9. Pope Wojtyla's Slip

The essays show familiar qualities of Ginzburg's writing, his preference for unconventional perspectives, the vigour and sharpness of his reasoning and his mercurial yet highly disciplined intellectual zest. -- Luigi Meneghello Times Literary Supplement Although the text ranges over diverse sources, the essays are succinct and thought-provoking. Choice The scope of his primary sources-philosophers from Aristotle to Adorno, authors from the gospel writers to Proust, artists from Caravaggio to Magritte-befits a thinker of dazzling erudition and innovative brio... Ginzburg's work represents the finest in philosophical musings, as he coaxes the reader into new perceptions of the seemingly simple concept of distance, which he renders startlingly fresh. His breadth is intimidating, his depth daunting, and his conclusions staggering. Kirkus Reviews (starred review) Given Ginzburg's astonishing intellectual range - he dances with intimidating ease across half a dozen languages and two and a half millennia of writings, quoting his authorities with the easy familiarity of deep study - the essays dazzle as much as they inform. The book is an intellectual banquet. Ethics, Place and Environment

Carlo Ginzburg teaches at UCLA, where he is the Franklin D. Murphy Chair of Italian Renaissance Studies. His other books in English include The Cheese and the Worms, No Island Is an Island: Four Glances at English Literature in a World Perspective, Ecstasies: Deciphering the Witches'Sabbath and The Night Battles: Witchcraft and Agrarian Cults in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries.

• 1. Making it Strange: The Prehistory of a Literary Device 2. Myth: Distance and Deceit 3. Representation: The Word, the Idea, the Thing 4. Ecce: On the Scriptural Roots of Christian Devotional Imagery 5. Idols and Likenesses: A Passage in Origen and Its Vicissitudes 6. Style: Inclusion and Exclusion 7. Distance and Perspective: Two Metaphors 8. To Kill a Chinese Mandarin: The Moral Implications of Distance 9. Pope Wojtyla's Slip

The essays show familiar qualities of Ginzburg's writing, his preference for unconventional perspectives, the vigour and sharpness of his reasoning and his mercurial yet highly disciplined intellectual zest. -- Luigi Meneghello Times Literary Supplement Although the text ranges over diverse sources, the essays are succinct and thought-provoking. Choice The scope of his primary sources-philosophers from Aristotle to Adorno, authors from the gospel writers to Proust, artists from Caravaggio to Magritte-befits a thinker of dazzling erudition and innovative brio... Ginzburg's work represents the finest in philosophical musings, as he coaxes the reader into new perceptions of the seemingly simple concept of distance, which he renders startlingly fresh. His breadth is intimidating, his depth daunting, and his conclusions staggering. Kirkus Reviews (starred review) Given Ginzburg's astonishing intellectual range - he dances with intimidating ease across half a dozen languages and two and a half millennia of writings, quoting his authorities with the easy familiarity of deep study - the essays dazzle as much as they inform. The book is an intellectual banquet. Ethics, Place and Environment