Marco Polo’s BookMarco Polo and his book may seem to have been well served by scholars, yet the majority have been concerned to write about his travels in Asia, what he did or did not see, and how useful he is as a source on the East. John Critchley’s subject, on the other hand, is the text of Polo’s book itself and the political and ideological context - the crusades, the Mongol missions, the French presence in Italy - in which it was put together by its author(s), and read by its audience. The homogeneity of the ’original’ Franco-Italian text and the accepted relationship between this text and the Latin recensions is tested by computer analysis. An examination of vocabulary and other textual features draws out the different attitudes and contributions of Polo himself and his various editors and translators. Critchley’s book will be of interest not only to those concerned with the history of later medieval Europe but also to specialists in medieval Asia, who will find it useful to know about the background and composition of so famous and frequently cited a work. On pourrait penser que Marco Polo et son livre ont été amplement débattus par les spécialistes en la matière, cependant la majorité a surtout écrit à propos de ses voyages en Asie, ce qu’il avait ou n’avait pas vu et sur son utilité en tant que source de références sur l’Orient. Le sujet traité par John Critchley par contre, est le texte même du livre de Polo, ainsi que le contexte politique et ideologique - les croisades, les missions mongoles, la présence française en Italie - dans lequel il a été composé par son ou ses auteurs et dans lequel ses lecteurs ont pu le lire. L’homogeneïté du texte franco-italien d’origine et le rapport accepté entre celui-ci et les révisions latines ont été analysés par ordinateur. Un examen du vocabulaire et d’autres caractéristiques littéraires fait transparaître les différences d’attitudes et de contributions entre Polo |
From inside the book
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... Chinese place names and other technical terms are in Pinyin — thus Beijing rather than Peking, Dao-ist not Taoist. But Wade- Giles is retained for familiar historical Chinese personal names and the names of dynasties — thus Sung not ...
... Chinese place names and other technical terms are in Pinyin — thus Beijing rather than Peking, Dao-ist not Taoist. But Wade- Giles is retained for familiar historical Chinese personal names and the names of dynasties — thus Sung not ...
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... Chinese and Japanese forces which took place at this bridge in 1937 and began the second world war in Asia. His life has spawned at least three English-language films3 and several historical novels. There is a Marco Polo oriental ...
... Chinese and Japanese forces which took place at this bridge in 1937 and began the second world war in Asia. His life has spawned at least three English-language films3 and several historical novels. There is a Marco Polo oriental ...
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... Chinese, sometimes contradict it. Sinologists may cite Polo, but they do so mainly to enable their western readers to relate more easily to an exotic subject.1 A recent book on Khubilai Khan makes some use of Polo, suitably qualified ...
... Chinese, sometimes contradict it. Sinologists may cite Polo, but they do so mainly to enable their western readers to relate more easily to an exotic subject.1 A recent book on Khubilai Khan makes some use of Polo, suitably qualified ...
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... Chinese dynastic history of the Yuan is in error on Chinggis Khan's age because it wants him to have an auspicious lifespan of exactly seventy-two years.5 Different Chinese descriptions of the same place could, like Polo's of different ...
... Chinese dynastic history of the Yuan is in error on Chinggis Khan's age because it wants him to have an auspicious lifespan of exactly seventy-two years.5 Different Chinese descriptions of the same place could, like Polo's of different ...
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... Chinese official could write an account of south-east Asia without leaving home.4 Polo's renderings of Chinese place names are sometimes hardly recognizable;5 and he usually uses a form derived from Persian or Mongol, not Chinese.6 But ...
... Chinese official could write an account of south-east Asia without leaving home.4 Polo's renderings of Chinese place names are sometimes hardly recognizable;5 and he usually uses a form derived from Persian or Mongol, not Chinese.6 But ...
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Common terms and phrases
9 MP Arthurian Asia Balard Bar Hebraeus Bar Hebraeus 1932 Bertolucci Pizzorusso Boccaccio Brunetto Latini Brunetto Latini 1948 Cambridge Carpini China Chinese Chinggis Khan Christian cited Constantinople contemporary Cordier crusade Dante Dominican east Egyptians Emperor Europe European F text fourteenth century Franciscan Franke French Genoese gold Golden Horde Hayton of Armenia History Hulagu Ibn Battuta India Italian J.A. Boyle Juvaini Khan's Khubilai Khan King Latin Livre London Mamluk Marco Polo Martin da Canale medieval merchants Middle Ages Mongol Monte Croce Muslim Nestorian Odoric of Pordenone Paris passage Pegolotti Pelliot perhaps Persia Philip of Novara Pipino Polo says Polo's book pope Quinsay Ramusio Rashid ad-Din 1971 Richard of Monte Roman Rome Rossabi Rubruck Rustichello Rustichello of Pisa Salimbene of Parma Saracens silver Spuler story sunt Tatars tell translation Turks Venetian Venetian text Venice vols William of Tripoli writing Yule & H