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 51
... readers ' willingness to identify with him via a shared ethos , stak- ing his credibility on the degree to which his readers feel that they resemble him . Thus , at the same time that Mandeville distinguishes himself as someone who has ...
... readers ' willingness to identify with him via a shared ethos , stak- ing his credibility on the degree to which his readers feel that they resemble him . Thus , at the same time that Mandeville distinguishes himself as someone who has ...
Page 59
... readers , since both become Polo's ad- dressees by virtue of being people who are interested in hearing about the people and places of the Far East . If Marco serves as the Khan's eyes , those who receive the account of his travels are ...
... readers , since both become Polo's ad- dressees by virtue of being people who are interested in hearing about the people and places of the Far East . If Marco serves as the Khan's eyes , those who receive the account of his travels are ...
Page 179
... reader back and forth inside of his account ( conceived of as the Histoire to- gether with its manuscript antecedents ) ... readers . Léry sensed that the credibility of his account depended in some important way on the role his addressees ...
... reader back and forth inside of his account ( conceived of as the Histoire to- gether with its manuscript antecedents ) ... readers . Léry sensed that the credibility of his account depended in some important way on the role his addressees ...
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