The Memory Palace of Matteo Ricci - Softcover

Spence, Jonathan D.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0571139590 ISBN 13: 9780571139590

Publisher: Faber & Faber, 1988

Synopsis

In 1577, the Jesuit priest Matteo Ricci set out from Italy to bring Christian faith and Western thought to Ming dynasty China. To capture the complex emotional and religious drama of Ricci's extraodinary life, Jonathan Spence has shifted away from conventional biographical techniques, and he relates his subject's life to several images that Ricci himself created - four images derived from events in the Bible and others from a book on the art of memory that Ricci wrote in Chinese and circulated among members of the Ming dynasty's elite. A rich and compelling narrative about a remarkable life, "The Memory Palace of Matteo Ricci" is also a significant work of global history, juxtaposing the world of Counter-Reformation Europe with that of Ming China.

About this title

Review

Praise for "The Memory Palace of Matteo Ricci"
An extraordinarily delicate achievement . . . Resembles the portrait of an age.
"The New York Times Book Review"
A gripping portrait of late-sixteenth-century cultural history in both the West and the East.
Natalie Zemon Davis, Princeton University, author of "The Return of Martin Guerre"
An extraordinary tour de force, a work of literature and at the same time a remarkable wide-ranging use of historical sources. This is the kind of history that most people in the profession cannot even begin to write.
John King Fairbank, Harvard University"

Praise for The Memory Palace of Matteo Ricci

"An extraordinarily delicate achievement . . . Resembles the portrait of an age."
--The New York Times Book Review

"A gripping portrait of late-sixteenth-century cultural history in both the West and the East."
--Natalie Zemon Davis, Princeton University, author of The Return of Martin Guerre

"An extraordinary tour de force, a work of literature and at the same time a remarkable wide-ranging use of historical sources. This is the kind of history that most people in the profession cannot even begin to write."
--John King Fairbank, Harvard University

From the Back Cover

“An extraordinary tour de force, a work of literature and at the same time a remarkable wide-ranging use of historical sources” John King Fairbank, Harvard University In 1577 an Italian Jesuit priest named Matteo Ricci set out from Italy on a long journey to bring the Christian faith to Ming dynasty China. Travelling widely, Ricci learned local languages, mastered Chinese script, and acquired a rich appreciation of the indigenous culture of his hosts. In 1596 he wrote a short book on the art of memory for the governor of Jiangxi province, who was preparing his sons for China's demanding civil service examinations. Ricci's Treatise on Mnemonic Arts, with its striking metaphor of a “memory palace” for the storing of knowledge, was widely circulated among members of the Ming dynasty elite. To capture the complex emotional and religious drama of Ricci's life, Jonathan Spence relates the missionary's experiences via a series of images. Four of these images derive from events described in the Bible, the others from his Treatise on Mnemonic Arts. A rich and compelling narrative of a remarkable life, The Memory Palace of Matteo Ricci is also a significant work of global history, juxtaposing the world of Counter-Reformation Europe with that of Ming china.

Edition details

• Publisher: Faber & Faber
• Publication date: 1988
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0571139590
• ISBN 13: 9780571139590
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 368