Unless I've missed a post, no-one yet has mentioned the following:
John Swain, _The Pleasures of the Torture Chamber_ , London, Tandem 1965 (reprint
from 1931). I see the BL catalogue boasts it is "with plates" (an obvious added
attraction?!).
Not a 'scholarly' book, not particularly medieval apart from the way it highlights a
depressing continuity across a good number of centuries. But researched up to modern
times (i.e. to 1931 -- my copy is not at hand, but I seem to recall the chap
optimistically suggesting at that time that things couldn't really get much worse).
To do him justice, it is a 'popular' book (i.e. light, insofar as these things can
be) and has a certain wry style, but does not trivialise the topic and is safe to
read in the tub (on which he has a couple of things to say). He makes an interesting
distinction between torture (= usually to gain an objective, e.g. information) and
torment (= inflicting pain for 'pleasure', for punishment, or simply because you can
-- a more modern writer might have things to say about 'torment' as expressing a
power relationship. It's a man-thing, ain't it?). I think he is the first writer to
make this distinction and so, if I'm right (?), we should give him credit.
Surely many of our daily saints/martyrs were 'tormented' to death rather than
tortured? Not that they need necessarily have been interested in discussing the point
at the time. Worth spending a couple of pounds on if you see it second-hand. Don't
waste ILL-funds. But dip into it if your library has it while you're waiting for
something to come up from the closed stacks: the torture/torment point is worth
noting. And then there's the plates ...
Angus Graham, Oman
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