Farr, James R. 1950–

PERSONAL:

Born 1950. Education: Northwestern University, Ph.D., 1983.

ADDRESSES:

Office—Purdue University, University Hall, 672 Oval Dr., West Lafayette, IN 47907-2087. E-mail—jrfarr@purdue.edu.

CAREER:

Academic and historian. Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, professor of history. Shelby Cullom Davis Center for Historical Studies fellow, Princeton University, 1994-95; American Council of Learned Societies fellow, 1994-95; John Simon Guggenheim fellow, 1998-99.

WRITINGS:

Hands of Honor: Artisans and Their World in Dijon, 1550-1650, Cornell University Press (Ithaca, NY), 1988.

Authority and Sexuality in Early Modern Burgundy (1550-1730), Oxford University Press (New York, NY), 1995.

Artisans in Europe, 1300-1914, Cambridge University Press (New York, NY), 2000.

A Tale of Two Murders: Passion and Power in Seventeenth-Century France, Duke University Press (Durham, NC), 2005.

Contributor to periodicals, including Journal of Early Modern History, Journal of Interdisciplinary History, Journal of Modern History, Journal of Social History, and French Historical Studies.

SIDELIGHTS:

James R. Farr is an academic and historian. Born in 1950, he completed his higher education at Northwestern University, earning a Ph.D. in 1983. Farr later began working at West Lafayette, Indiana's Purdue University, where he eventually became a professor of history. Farr has also held fellowships at a number of institutions. From 1994 to 1995 Farr served as the Shelby Cullom Davis Center for Historical Studies fellow at Princeton University. He also served as a John Simon Guggenheim fellow from 1998 to 1999.

Farr's research interests revolve around European history in the early modern period, methodology, film, and cultural history theories. As a writer, Farr has contributed to a number of periodicals and academic journals, including the Journal of Early Modern History, Journal of Interdisciplinary History, Journal of Modern History, Journal of Social History, and the French Historical Studies. Farr published his first book, Hands of Honor: Artisans and Their World in Dijon, 1550-1650, in 1988.

Farr published his second book, Authority and Sexuality in Early Modern Burgundy (1550-1730), in 1995. The account looks at Burgundy during the Catholic Reformation and how the local nobility sought to reorder society after the Wars of Religion. Farr shows how a neo-Stoicism style of authoritarian ethics was pushed on the people, with the ideological presumption that passions were the cause of social disorder.

Victoria Thompson, writing in the Journal of Women's History, commented that "Farr offers ample evidence of women's resistance to elite attempts to control their sexuality. His evidence, however, does not necessarily demonstrate that the actions of women who appeared in the Burgundian law courts stemmed from an innate bodily imperative; these women equally could be seen as operating according to a different cultural under- standing of sexuality altogether. Farr tends to obscure the possibility that a multiplicity of sexualities may have existed at this time." Thompson conceded, however, that "Farr argues convincingly that gender was perceived as central to the system of control elaborated during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, stating that ‘the fiction of a fixed social hierarchy was predicated upon assumptions held by early modern men about unequal gender relations.’" Thompson concluded that "Farr, in using sexuality as a privileged vantage point from which to trace the complex power relationships between church and state, local elites and the crown, and parliamentarians and the common people, demonstrates how attention to sexuality can provide insight into larger historical questions." Julian Swann, writing in the English Historical Review, described the book as "an impressive study" with "compelling" arguments. Swann noted that "through his examination of these and other cases, Farr demonstrates that despite their theoretically unyielding moral ethic, the judges ‘pursued pragmatic jurisprudence’. His conclusions are convincing and will be of interest to all scholars of early modern France."

In 2000 Farr published Artisans in Europe, 1300-1914. The book focuses on urban centers in France, England, western Germany, Austria, Spain, Italy, and the Low Countries, and the role that artisans played in shaping the culture of the cities. Farr also looks into noneconomic aspects of guilds.

Iorwerth Prothero, writing in the English Historical Review, described the account as a "welcome, impressive and authoritative textbook," adding that "it is a comprehensive and wide-ranging study drawing on very wide reading of secondary literature, as well as the author's research on Dijon."

Farr published A Tale of Two Murders: Passion and Power in Seventeenth-Century France in 2005. The book looks at a court case in seventeenth-century Burgundy involving the deaths of a judge in the Chambre des Comptes and his valet by another of the high court's judges, Philippe Giroux, who is also his cousin. Aside from holding a prestigious position in Burgundian society, Giroux came from a powerful family. Mysterious circumstances surrounded the death of Giroux's wife and others close to the judge, and rumors abounded about his interest in his cousin's wife. Farr shows how the purportedly unbiased trial eventually found Giroux guilty and sentenced him to death.

Marie Seong-Hak Kim, writing on H-Net: Humanities and Social Sciences Online, described the topic as "a gripping murder trial" based on a "lurid murder account steeped in lust and love." Seong-Hak Kim remarked that the book contained "a generous dose of tantalizing details and riveting tales, skillfully told to keep the readers enthralled." Seong-Hak Kim also mentioned that the account was "subtle," adding that "he does not take a position on Giroux's guilt or innocence." Seong-Hak Kim called the book "captivating" and filled with "excellent scholarship," concluding that Farr "admirably succeeded in bringing" the story to life. Seong-Hak Kim pondered: "If only all history books were this much fun to read." Mack P. Holt, also reviewing the book on H-Net: Humanities and Social Sciences Online, wrote that "this is a very dramatic story, and Farr tells it extremely well. Although it is a bit difficult to keep so many characters straight at the beginning." Holt commented that "Farr's story gives us an insider's view on the social climbing, political maneuvering, and alliance seeking of the urban noblesse de robe in seventeenth-century France." Holt continued, saying that "Farr's book also has a great deal to say about the workings of the criminal justice system in early modern France. Above all, one is struck by how methodical, systematic, and ultimately fair the judges tried to be in reaching a verdict." Due to these aspects, Holt concluded that "now students and teachers of the Ancien Régime have a riveting murder mystery to illustrate ‘the sinews of power—law, patronage, ambition, interest, vengeance—that defined political culture in the age of absolutism.’"

Michael R. Lynn, writing in the Canadian Journal of History, remarked that "the extreme complexity of the case forces Farr to spend considerable time and space narrating the various stages of the investigation. This means that much of the significant analytic work appears to take a back seat to the overall course of events." Lynn concluded that "in the end, Farr has crafted an excellent study of early modern political and social history." Brian Sandberg, reviewing the book in Renaissance Quarterly, found that the book "is riveting and readable, equally appropriate for an audience of university students or general readers." Sandberg concluded that "this impressive book also makes an important contribution to early modern judicial history. Farr's reflections on the historian's craft and the paradoxes of public/private justice expose the malleability of the rule of law, forcing us to reflect on the seeming irrelevance of guilt and innocence in the disturbing Giroux affair."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

American Historical Review, October 1, 1990, Kathryn Norberg, review of Hands of Honor: Artisans and Their World in Dijon, 1550-1650, p. 1204; December 1, 1996, Kathryn Norberg, review of Authority and Sexuality in Early Modern Burgundy (1550-1730), p. 1551; December 1, 2006, Sarah Hanley, review of A Tale of Two Murders: Passion and Power in Seventeenth-Century France, p. 1609.

Canadian Journal of History, fall, 2006, Michael R. Lynn, review of A Tale of Two Murders, p. 359.

English Historical Review, June 1, 1997, Julian Swann, review of Authority and Sexuality in Early Modern Burgundy (1550-1730), p. 754; November 1, 2001, Iorwerth Prothero, review of Artisans in Europe, 1300-1914, p. 1266.

European History Quarterly, October 1, 1991, David Parrott, review of Hands of Honor, p. 537.

Journal of Family History, October 1, 2000, Robert M. Schwartz, review of Authority and Sexuality in Early Modern Burgundy (1550-1730), p. 548.

Journal of Interdisciplinary History, summer, 1990, Robert S. DuPlessis, review of Hands of Honor, p. 131; January 1, 2007, Jay M. Smith, review of A Tale of Two Murders, p. 449.

Journal of Modern History, March 1, 1991, Mack P. Holt, review of Hands of Honor, p. 140; March 1, 1997, Roger Mettam, review of Authority and Sexuality in Early Modern Burgundy (1550-1730), p. 152; December 1, 2007, Michael Breen, review of A Tale of Two Murders, p. 919.

Journal of Social History, winter, 1996, review of Authority and Sexuality in Early Modern Burgundy (1550-1730), p. 503.

Journal of the History of Ideas, April 1, 1995, review of Authority and Sexuality in Early Modern Burgundy (1550-1730), p. 343.

Journal of the History of Sexuality, April 1, 1996, Laura Gowing, review of Authority and Sexuality in Early Modern Burgundy (1550-1730), p. 609.

Journal of Women's History, January 1, 1998, Victoria Thompson, review of Authority and Sexuality in Early Modern Burgundy (1550-1730), p. 211.

Labor History, November 1, 2001, Christopher H. Johnson, review of Artisans in Europe, 1300-1914, p. 433.

Law and History Review, spring, 1998, Thomas Brennan, review of Authority and Sexuality in Early Modern Burgundy (1550-1730), p. 177; summer, 2007, Sharon Kettering, review of A Tale of Two Murders, p. 410.

Renaissance Quarterly, spring, 1998, review of Authority and Sexuality in Early Modern Burgundy (1550-1730), p. 259; summer, 2006, Brian Sandberg, review of A Tale of Two Murders, p. 526.

Sixteenth Century Journal, winter, 1989, Barbara Beckerman Davis, review of Hands of Honor, p. 681; fall, 1996, Beth Nachison, review of Authority and Sexuality in Early Modern Burgundy (1550-1730), p. 899; fall, 1996, Barbara Beckerman Davis, review of Authority and Sexuality in Early Modern Burgundy (1550-1730), p. 900; winter, 2006, Jeffrey R. Watt, review of A Tale of Two Murders, p. 1138.

Social History, May 1, 1990, William H. Beik, review of Hands of Honor, p. 246.

Social Science Quarterly, June 1, 1990, Jacquelin Collins, review of Hands of Honor, p. 418.

ONLINE

H-Net: Humanities and Social Sciences Online,http://www.h-net.org/ (spring, 2006), Mark P. Holt, review of A Tale of Two Murders; (July 1, 2006), Marie Seong-Hak Kim, review of A Tale of Two Murders.

Purdue University History Department Web site,http://www.cla.purdue.edu/ (June 7, 2008), author profile.