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Rating: 
Summary: Not for the faint of heart
Review: Perhaps one of the most eccentric and emotionally demanding books I have ever come across, but one that maintains its intellectual integrity. Few authors have examined this multi-layered subject: the symbolism of that supposedly judicious and 'humane' killing machine -- the guillotine. Once thought the gentlest, most progressive means of execution, this tool became a monster, with an almost independent, bloodthirsty spirit. Sheer darkness; a raison d'etre beyond rope, metal and wood. The Terror raised to an art form: theatre. The will of the People without a head, without consciousness -- the perfect government, subverting individuality.
In destroying enemies of the newborn Republic, the ancien regime, and (finally) the radical, misguided perpetrators of the Revolution, the guillotine became viewed a symbol for man's darkest, most destructive impulses. We see how the beheading of the body politic eventually turned in on itself: the she-wolf devouring her young. This short but effective book seeks to analyze the symbolism of the guillotine, the image it projected, into the minds and hearts of both individuals and collective society. Through a series of well researched anecdotes, Arasse (a professor of art history) examines all the players: the instrument, the scaffold, the blade, the precision, the swiftness (or lack thereof), the executioner, the victims, and the spectators.
Perhaps one of the more grisly sections deals with contemporary speculations on the survival of consciousness post beheading from a neurological perspective; the impossible dilemma (compare with Descartes) of "I am dead". Arasse even describes even (apocryphal, of course) experiments (volunteers, anyone?) of keeping a head alive for long periods of time following decapitation. Indeed, many were fascinated, not horrified, with that select club: the beheaded. What happens at the moment? What of the blade's descent? What does the victim feel? How long does awareness persist, if at all? Is there recognition of time? With the spectacle being commonplace, thinkers posit quesions, and the masses express indifference, outside of critiquing the executioner's methodology.
I purchased the book when it was first published, and occasionally re-read it. Prior to an extended trip to Paris in 2003, I devoured it, along with Simon Schama's 'Citizens' in order to refresh my knowledge. Whilst in the Concergerie, and on the Place de la Concorde, I could feel the reverberations of that terrible, tragic time.
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