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Memory In Fragments : The Lives Of Ancient Maya Sculptures
 ISBN: 9781477329399Price: 65.00  
Volume: Dewey: 305.897/42Grade Min: Publication Date: 2024-07-02 
LCC: 2023-035272LCN: F1435.3.S34O54 2024Grade Max: Version:  
Contributor: O'Neil, Megan E.Series: Publisher: University of Texas PressExtent: 280 
Contributor: Reviewer: Travis NygardAffiliation: Ripon CollegeIssue Date: December 2024 
Contributor:     

Memory in Fragments focuses on how ancient Maya art was meaningful not only when it was newly created but also for each generation that inherited it. As O'Neil (Emory Univ.) explains, "instead of interpreting only the images and texts carved on sculptures, it also probes how people used and experienced sculptures over the centuries in the physical spaces of Maya cities" (p. 3). Sometimes artworks were recarved to depict new people, defaced to ridicule someone who fell from power, or buried so that they were only viewable by the gods or the deceased. Sculptures that were decapitated or had their eyes gouged out are particularly intriguing. To explain these types of phenomena, she uses a multidisciplinary approach, including theories of iconoclasm, memory, ritual, positioning, recontextualization, time, and visibility. O'Neil synthesizes scholarship on the monuments she studies, including the content of hieroglyphic inscriptions. Among the sites discussed, particular attention is paid to art from Calakmul, Caracol, Copan, Piedras Negras, Tikal, and Yaxchilan. The book is lavishly illustrated with archival photographs that have rarely been published. It will appeal to both art enthusiasts and scholars.Summing Up: Essential. General readers through faculty.