The Memory Palace of Matteo Ricci

From the renowned historian and author of The Death of Woman Wang, a vivid and gripping account of the 16th-century missionary's remarkable sojourn to Ming China

In 1577, the Jesuit Priest Matteo Ricci set out from Italy to bring Christian faith and Western thought to Ming dynasty China. To capture the complex emotional and religious drama of Ricci's extraordinary life, Jonathan Spence relates his subject's experiences with several images that Ricci himself created--four images derived from the events in the Bible and others from a book on the art of memory that Ricci wrote in Chinese and circulated among members of the Ming dynasty elite. A rich and compelling narrative about a fascinating life, The Memory Palace of Matteo Ricci is also a significant work of global history, juxtaposing the world of Counter-Reformation Europe with that of Ming China.

Author: Jonathan D. Spence
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 09/03/1985
Pages: 368
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.57lbs
Size: 7.75h x 5.08w x 0.68d
ISBN: 9780140080988

About the Author
Jonathan Spence (1936-2021): Was the author of more than a dozen well-regarded books "which illuminate China's vast history through details that illuminated bigger pictures and themes. (The New York Times)" including The Gate of Heavenly Peace, Treason by the Book, and The Death of Woman Wang. His awards include a Guggenheim and a MacArthur Fellowship. He was Sterling Professor of History at Yale University from 1993 to 2008.