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 22
... thought in the context of the history of ideas , it does not examine the figure of the witness per se ; see chapter four infra . 2 The Historia was not printed until 1875. For a discussion of the composition and diffusion of the work ...
... thought in the context of the history of ideas , it does not examine the figure of the witness per se ; see chapter four infra . 2 The Historia was not printed until 1875. For a discussion of the composition and diffusion of the work ...
Page 145
... thought " about here are religious truths that are ab- solutely distinct from the signs that mediate them . This is why Crespin feels at liberty to amend the court records he has gathered for his catalogue of persecuted martyrs . As he ...
... thought " about here are religious truths that are ab- solutely distinct from the signs that mediate them . This is why Crespin feels at liberty to amend the court records he has gathered for his catalogue of persecuted martyrs . As he ...
Page 169
... thought . Indeed , no one emphasized the lack of resemblance between the human and heavenly realms more than did Calvin , who wrote that God is " as different from flesh as fire is from water . " 25 Far from positing a direct link ...
... thought . Indeed , no one emphasized the lack of resemblance between the human and heavenly realms more than did Calvin , who wrote that God is " as different from flesh as fire is from water . " 25 Far from positing a direct link ...
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