1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910458804103321

Titolo

The 'book' of travels [[electronic resource] ] : genre, ethnology, and pilgrimage, 1250-1700 / / edited by Palmira Brummett

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Leiden ; ; Boston, : Brill, 2009

ISBN

1-282-60147-4

9786612601477

90-474-2844-7

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (368 p.)

Collana

Studies in medieval and Reformation traditions, , 1573-4188 ; ; v. 140

Altri autori (Persone)

BrummettPalmira Johnson <1950->

Disciplina

915.04/3

Soggetti

Europeans - Travel - Asia

Travelers' writings, European - History and criticism

Literary form - History

Travelers' writings, European - Themes, motives

Ethnology in literature

Pilgrims and pilgrimages in literature

Intercultural communication in literature

Electronic books.

Asia Description and travel

Asia In literature

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references (p. [293]-309) and index.

Nota di contenuto

Introduction : genre, witness, and time in the 'book' of travels / Palmira Brummett -- Late medieval ambassadors and the practice of cross-cultural encounters, 1250-1450 / Joan-Pau Rubiés -- Ruy González de Clavijo's narrative of courtly life and ceremony in Timur's Samarqand, 1404 / David J. Roxburgh -- Copying maps by Matthew Paris : itineraries fit for a king / Daniel K. Connolly -- 'A mirrour of mis-haps, a mappe of miserie' : dangers, strangers, and friends in Renaissance pilgrimage / Wes Williams -- Postcards from the harem : the cultural translation of Niccolao Manucci's book of travels / Pompa Banerjee -- Afterword : one reader reading / Mary Baine Campbell.

Sommario/riassunto

The early modern era is often envisioned as one in which European



genres, both narrative and visual, diverged indelibly from those of medieval times. This collection examines a disparate set of travel texts, dating from the thirteenth to the seventeenth centuries, to question that divergence and to assess the modes, themes, and ethnologies of travel writing. It demonstrates the enduring nature of the itinerary, the variant forms of witnessing (including imaginary maps), the crafting of sacred space as a cautionary tale, and the use of the travel narrative to represent the transformation of the authorial self. Focusing on European travelers to the expansive East, from the soft architecture of Timur's tent palaces in Samarqand to the ambiguities of sexual identity at the Mughul court, these essays reveal the possibilities for cultural translation as travelers of varying experience and attitude confront remote and foreign (or not so foreign) space.