Silk: A World History, by Aarathi Prasad

[sophia_sol]

I listened to this nonfiction book as an audiobook, which was a great way to spend time with the history of silk as I went about working on various fibre arts crafts myself! (no silk in my crafting stash, though. not in my budget!)

There was a lot to enjoy about the book - engaging writing, that covers many interesting stories from the history of silk. And it talks about much more than just the silk of the classic silkworm, too. People have gotten silk from other related types of moth cocoons, from certain shellfish (which use long silken strands to anchor themselves into sand), and from spiders, who create many different kinds of silk for different purposes. I particularly enjoyed learning about the many species of wild silk moths in India which have a long history of being harvested for their silks.

However, the further I listened in the book, the more striking it became that nearly all of the stories were told from a European perspective, about European priorities, even though most of the silks discussed are not European in origin. Even when the book talks about non-European stories, it's as a brief backstory to contextualize talking more about the European relationships with silk, with the Europeans as a frame tale for understanding it.

I wondered at first if it might be simply that the author didn't have access to much in the way of resources to make it more truly a world history, but I know that for example China is a place with a very long history of a) using silk and b) writing down EVERYTHING. So it really does feel like it was more a choice the author made.

The author did at least make a point of mentioning whenever there were indigenous or enslaved people helping out whatever european naturalist she was following the story of at the time, which I'm glad of. But I want to know the stories of the dynamics of silk usage and silk trade in the eras before european colonization became such a huge force in the world as well?! and not just as a quick aside to hurry through as we move on towards talking more about colonial projects.

As well, the book as a whole feels like it kind of just jumps around randomly to whatever stories the author found interesting, rather than laying out the history of silk in a more systematic way. And like, I'm certainly sympathetic to the desire to just dive into whatever bits you personally find most interesting! But it makes for a much less satisfying book experience as a whole, even if I enjoyed all the constituent stories.

So as a whole I'm a lot less enthusiastic about this book now than I was when I was just starting it, which is really too bad. Read for the fun stories it does tell, but be aware going in that you are not actually getting the full world history of silk.

Comments

[seekingferret]

There's some really interesting stuff about the economic significance of silk in the Talmud. It's a really interesting global story, what a shame this book only used a European lens.

[sophia_sol]

wow, yes, that would have been SO interesting to have included in a book like this!

[lokifan]

There's some really interesting stuff about the economic significance of silk in the Talmud.

For real! That sounds fascinating. It does seem an especially weird topic to approach purely through a European lens.

I want to know the stories of the dynamics of silk usage and silk trade in the eras before european colonization became such a huge force in the world as well?!

This! Again, particularly for this story. I'd be really interested in the Chinese history of silk and its local effects, especially as the Silk Routes became more widely used! Especially since most of what I know is from a European POV already.

[sophia_sol]

yeah! there is surely SO much to say about the history of silk before/aside from european involvement! but the author just seems to Not Actually Care. it's baffling. More about the silk routes please!!!

[satsuma]

it does seem like this book would be a whole lot less frustrating if it had just been titled “A history of silk in Europe” or whatever! but i guess world histories a la Salt are in vogue, so publishers are insisting on world history titles even when it doesnt really make much sense re:the authors expertise

[sophia_sol]

the thing is that it's NOT just a history of silk in europe, it's a history of silk in european colonies as well....about the europeans in those colonies. but yeah I think you're right about what's in vogue right now and how it has shaped what the book is trying to be. SIGH.

[pauraque]

The jumping around is something I see a lot in popular nonfiction, and it bugs me too. There is an art to covering a lot of ground on a multifaceted topic without making it feel superficial and all-over-the-place, and not all authors have the knack.

[sophia_sol]

yeah I've seen it before too and it's so frustrating! I'm quite sure I also don't have the knack, but I wish these kinds of authors would try a different approach to writing the thing they want to write, instead of doing this thing badly.

I loved how MacFarlane did it in Underland, where each chapter was a deep dive into a separate thing along one theme, and they built up together to say something greater than the sum of its parts, without having to try to make awkward transitions from one thing to the next. I think this would ALSO be hard to do, but in a different way. But it's evidence there's more than one way to write a work of popular nonfiction! More experimentation in the form, please!

[silverflight8]

Yeah I feel like once you notice it, so many Anglo books about History of X are really just European (or American) History of Thing except sometimes they remember that China's got astronomic records back 3,000 years but then they devote most of the text to Galileo anyway argghh. It doesn't surprise me that silk, which originated in China, is still just from a Euro POV. Frustrating.

[sophia_sol]

ugh yeah SO true, this really is the case for many anglo history books! I did, like, hope for better for this one? especially since the author's parents come from parts of the world other than europe. but the hope was alas denied.

[geraineon]

Ah, that's a little disappointing =(

... my first mental association when I think of the history silk is absolutely not Europe

[sophia_sol]

RIGHTTTTTT. like what the heck!!

[sgac]

I picked up this book while desperately trying to find Chinese history, of any kind, on the shelves in my local bookstore - and it's an excellent bookstore with a sizable history section. I thought surely silk = China. And yet. Even standing in the store skimming, it was very obvious there was very little Chinese history to be found here. My impression was that the author couldn't avoid talking about China in the early chapters, but treated it as a kind of prologue before getting into the meat of the book, which was Europe.

[sophia_sol]

ughghhh yeah exactly. china was the prologue to the meat of the book! I read it as an audiobook from the library so I couldn't skim through it, I just got to have the dawning realisation as I progressed into my listening.

[ivyfic]

Kind of galling, given the subtitle!

[sophia_sol]

EXACTLY!

[chestnut_pod]

Hm, that's rather disappointing. Well, I will keep my hold on it and go in with tempered expectations.

[sophia_sol]

yeahhhhh temper your expectations for sure!