The Great Cat Massacre
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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| + | '''The Great Cat Massacre''' (1984) is the subject of a scholarly work by [[United States|American]] [[historian]] [[Robert Darnton]], describing and interpreting an unusual source detailing the murder or "[[massacre]]" of [[cats]] during the late 1730s by [[apprentice]] [[Printer (publisher)| printers]] living and working on [[Rue Saint-Séverin, Paris|Rue Saint-Séverin]] in [[Paris]]. | ||
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| + | Darnton describes how, as the apprentices suffered hard conditions, they came to resent the favours which their [[Master craftsman|masters]] gave to their [[cats]], and contrived to deal with the nuisance cats by slaughtering them so as to distress their masters. Darnton interprets this as an early form of [[Industrial action|workers' protest]]. | ||
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| + | The cats were a favourite of the printer's wife and were fed much better than the apprentices, who were in turn served 'catfood' (rotting meat scraps). Aside from this, they were maltreated, beaten and exposed to cold and horrible weather. One of the apprentices imitated a cat by screaming like one for several nights, making the printer and his wife despair. Finally, the printer ordered the cats rounded up and despatched. The apprentices did this, rounded up all the cats they could find, beat them half to death and held a 'trial'. They found the cats guilty of witchcraft and sentenced them to death by hanging. | ||
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| + | '''Method''' – Darnton, influenced by his colleague, [[anthropologist]] [[Clifford Geertz]], aimed to gain greater insight into the period and social groups involved by studying what he perceived to be something which appeared alien to the modern mind - the fact that killing cats might be funny. He has been criticised for this, however, as some people throughout history have doubtless found such cruelty amusing, and even today one could find examples of animal cruelty for fun - such as [[cock-fighting]], [[dog-fighting]], and arguably even [[bull fighting]]. | ||
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| + | ==See also== | ||
| + | * [[Robert Darnton]] | ||
| + | * [[Clifford Geertz]] | ||
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Revision as of 20:35, 8 February 2010
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The Great Cat Massacre (1984) is the subject of a scholarly work by American historian Robert Darnton, describing and interpreting an unusual source detailing the murder or "massacre" of cats during the late 1730s by apprentice printers living and working on Rue Saint-Séverin in Paris.
Darnton describes how, as the apprentices suffered hard conditions, they came to resent the favours which their masters gave to their cats, and contrived to deal with the nuisance cats by slaughtering them so as to distress their masters. Darnton interprets this as an early form of workers' protest.
The cats were a favourite of the printer's wife and were fed much better than the apprentices, who were in turn served 'catfood' (rotting meat scraps). Aside from this, they were maltreated, beaten and exposed to cold and horrible weather. One of the apprentices imitated a cat by screaming like one for several nights, making the printer and his wife despair. Finally, the printer ordered the cats rounded up and despatched. The apprentices did this, rounded up all the cats they could find, beat them half to death and held a 'trial'. They found the cats guilty of witchcraft and sentenced them to death by hanging.
Method – Darnton, influenced by his colleague, anthropologist Clifford Geertz, aimed to gain greater insight into the period and social groups involved by studying what he perceived to be something which appeared alien to the modern mind - the fact that killing cats might be funny. He has been criticised for this, however, as some people throughout history have doubtless found such cruelty amusing, and even today one could find examples of animal cruelty for fun - such as cock-fighting, dog-fighting, and arguably even bull fighting.
See also
