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
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Page 49
... authority , which comes only and crucially from experience ” ( 3 ) . However , John Mandeville's Travels , one of the best known and most widely read medieval travel narratives , belies this principle . Mandeville's book puts the authority ...
... authority , which comes only and crucially from experience ” ( 3 ) . However , John Mandeville's Travels , one of the best known and most widely read medieval travel narratives , belies this principle . Mandeville's book puts the authority ...
Page 82
... authority were no longer seen as adequate , and that those judgments were no longer capable of establishing satis- factory versions of the truth . Certainly , hearsay persisted ( and per- sists ) as a site of cultural authority , but as ...
... authority were no longer seen as adequate , and that those judgments were no longer capable of establishing satis- factory versions of the truth . Certainly , hearsay persisted ( and per- sists ) as a site of cultural authority , but as ...
Page 145
... authority " ( 74 ) . But what both Montaigne and Thevet in fact do here is import a venerable reliquary tradition into the writing of geography and history . The American artifacts they claim to possess function very much like Catholic ...
... authority " ( 74 ) . But what both Montaigne and Thevet in fact do here is import a venerable reliquary tradition into the writing of geography and history . The American artifacts they claim to possess function very much like Catholic ...
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