The Marvellous Adventures of Sir John Mandeville (article)

The Marvellous Adventures of Sir John Mandeville
by A. W. Stiffe for The Geographical Journal

Given that this article dates to 1899, I feel like I have to be forgiving about how blatantly opinionated it is. There’s little sound basis given for most of the arguments, which are mostly comprised of a petty defense against scholars (particularly Yule, editor of Cathay and the Way Thither) who decry Mandeville’s character. It is an earnest attempt to rehabilitate Mandeville’s good name, but largely on Stiffe’s word that it is so.

The most (only) interesting part of the article to my mind is Stiffe’s compelling argument for admiring Mandeville as a “scientific geographer” first and foremost – someone with keen power of observation when it comes to nature, the world, the universe and man’s particular place therein. For all that is fantastical in Mandeville, and all that is commonplace – two necessary extremes – I am struck by that unique middle ground where he seems so ahead of his time in his scientific and philosophical thinking. For all those readers who can’t get past the question of his identity and originality, there’s a much greater question to be asked about Mandeville’s astute observations and keen, analytic thinking.