Marco Polo's Le Devisement du Monde - Narrative Voice, Language and Diversity (Paperback)

The first book in English to examine one of the most important and influential texts from a literary perspective. Le Devisement du Monde (1298), better though inaccurately known in English as Marco Polo's Travels, is one of only a handful of medieval texts that remain iconic today for European cultural history, and Marco Polo is one of only a handful of medieval writers who still enjoys instant name-recognition. Yet there is little awareness of the Devisement's complex history and development. This book examines the text from a fresh, literary viewpoint, drawing upon a range of different disciplines and approaches: philology, manuscript studies, narratology, cultural history, postcolonial studies and theory. It contains comparative readings of multiple versions of the text in French, Italian and Latin, Rather than offering a Eurocentric vision of the world grounded in a sense of the absolute alterity of the non-Christian world as is often asserted, the author shows how the Devisement expounds a sense of the relative nature of difference, crucially positioning Marco uncannily between two worlds (East and West), just as he is positioned awkwardly between two languages, French and Italian, and (in modern reception at least) awkwardly between two literary histories. The author also calls into question traditional accounts of the use of French outside France in the Middle Ages and offers a re-assessment of Marco Polo's position in the evolution of European travel writing. SIMON GAUNT is Professor of French Language and Literature at King's College London.

General

Imprint:	D.S. Brewer
Country of origin:	United Kingdom
Series:	Gallica
Release date:	March 2018
First published:	2018
Authors:	Simon Gaunt
Dimensions:	234 x 156 x 14mm (L x W x T)
Format:	Paperback - Trade
Pages:	212
ISBN-13:	978-1-84384-496-9
Categories:	Books > Language & Literature > Literature: history & criticism > Literary studies > Classical, early & medieval Promotions
LSN:	1-84384-496-6
Barcode:	9781843844969

Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate? Let us know about it.

Does this product have an incorrect or missing image? Send us a new image.

Is this product missing categories? Add more categories.

Review This Product

No reviews yet - be the first to create one!