The Invention of the Eyewitness: Witnessing and Testimony in Early Modern FranceIn an examination of eyewitness travel writing in thirteenth- through sixteenth-century France, Andrea Frisch studies the figure of the witness at a historical juncture and in a cultural context in which that figure is generally thought to have begun to assume a recognizably modern form and function. Whereas most accounts of early modern travel literature tend to read modern presuppositions about witnessing and testimony back into the material, Frisch approaches the early modern witness in terms of the cultural legacy of the Middle Ages. Through primary readings in law and theology, Frisch documents the tension between the ethical witness (the characteristic witness of premodernity) and the epistemic witness (the modern witness) and explores the impact of that tension on the figure of the witness in pre- and early modern French-language travel literature. |
From inside the book
Results 1-3 of 19
Page 144
... Catholic discourse of martyr- dom brings with it a distinct view of the nature of testimonial repre- sentation . The best witness to the faith of the Catholic martyr is his own dead body . On this view , testimony is inherently ...
... Catholic discourse of martyr- dom brings with it a distinct view of the nature of testimonial repre- sentation . The best witness to the faith of the Catholic martyr is his own dead body . On this view , testimony is inherently ...
Page 145
... Catholic religious relics . whose testimony can only be received via the physical senses . Their purported encounters with such artifacts could reasonably have been expected to lend the two writers a considerable authority to speak to ...
... Catholic religious relics . whose testimony can only be received via the physical senses . Their purported encounters with such artifacts could reasonably have been expected to lend the two writers a considerable authority to speak to ...
Page 160
... Catholic theology , as well as of humanist trea- tises on free will , predestination receives relatively little attention by the Council of Trent , which devotes significantly more time to the sacraments ( indeed , the Council produced ...
... Catholic theology , as well as of humanist trea- tises on free will , predestination receives relatively little attention by the Council of Trent , which devotes significantly more time to the sacraments ( indeed , the Council produced ...
Common terms and phrases
accused addressee Alcofribas Alcofribas's audience authority bear witness Beaumanoir body Brazil Calvin Calvinist cannibales Cartier Catholic ceste chapter Christ Christian chroniques cited context courts credibility culture Derrida dialogue discourse duel early modern EARLY MODERN FRANCE ence epistemic essay ethical ethical relationship ethnography ethos Eucharist European evaluating explicitly eyewitness eyewitness testimony fact fait first-person firsthand experience folklaw France French Gargantua Gonneville Huguenot Imbert inquest inquisitional procedure Jean Jean de Léry judge juridical knowledge Kublai Khan Léry Léry's Léry's Histoire Mandeville Mandeville's Marco martyrs medieval medieval inquisition Montaigne Montaigne's mony narrative narrator ness oral ordinance Pantagruel party person perspective Polo Polo's prologue qu'il question Rabelais's readers refer rhetoric s'ils sacramental signs simply sixteenth century status story subornation tesmoings tesmoins testamur testi testify testimo testimonial oath Thevet tion transubstantiation truth Tupi Tupinamba ultimately Villegagnon voyage witness deposition witness testimony witness's World writing written