The Devil's Cloth - Softcover

Michel Pastoureau

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0743453263 ISBN 13: 9780743453264

Publisher: Simon & Schuster, 2003

Synopsis

To stripe a surface serves to distinguish it, to point it out, to oppose it or associate it with another surface, and thus to classify it, to keep an eye on it, to verify it, even to censor it. Throughout the ages, the stripe has made its mark in mysterious ways. From prisoners' uniforms to tailored suits, a street sign to a set of sheets, Pablo Picasso to Saint Joseph, stripes have always made a bold statement. But the boundary that separates the good stripe from the bad is often blurred. Why, for instance, were stripes associated with the devil during the Middle Ages? How did stripes come to symbolize freedom and unity after the American and French revolutions? When did the stripe become a standard in men's fashion? "In the stripe," writes author Michel Pastoureau, "there is something that resists enclosure within systems." So before putting on that necktie or waving your country's flag, look to The Devil's Cloth for a colorful history of the stripe in all its variety, controversy, and connotation.

About this title

Review:

Esquire An oddball and charming little biography of a very devious pattern.

The New York Times Book Review Imaginative...this playful but learned book will doubtless have an influence.

The New York Times Reading about the epic implications of stripes...you feel like a child gleefully taking apart a toy, examining its small components one by one, then putting it back together.

Synopsis:

A French scholar and author of Blue: The History of a Color presents a witty cultural and social history of stripes, from the medieval prejudice against stripes to the present day, looking at the frequently negative attitude and connotations of stripes. Reprint.

About this edition

• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 0743453263
• ISBN 13: 9780743453264
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 144