A Discovery in John de Mandevilles
by Kenneth Walter Cameron for Speculum
This is another fairly old article, dating from 1936. I wonder if anyone ever followed up on it.
More or less, what Cameron presents is a call for a more vigorous study of British historical records in order to establish the real identity of Mandeville. He includes a modest list of individuals bearing the name which exist in readily accessible records, and gives a brief synopsis of their archival presence.
As I’m not particularly interested in Mandeville’s identity (o, my masked man of mystery!) this article is not really heaps of help, but it is interesting nonetheless. Someone should update his list with the cheesy modern recording artist John Mandeville, and the John Mandeville who wrote a travel guide to Turkey.
Showing posts with label mandeville's identity. Show all posts
Showing posts with label mandeville's identity. Show all posts
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Monday, September 6, 2010
Who was SJM? A fresh clue. (article)
Who was Sir John Mandeville? A fresh clue.
by Isaac Jackson, Miscellaneous Notes
This is a short article and mostly irrelevant to my interests. It simply stakes the claim that Sir John Mandeville was a kin-murderer who fled England to escape justice, and that the specific construction of his identity within the Travels is meant, among other things, to construct an alibi.
I am not particularly interested in solving the mystery of Mandeville’s “real” identity. Maybe I am just not a responsible scholar, but for my purposes, the only “identity” that matters is the one he creates for himself in his narrative. The Travels are interesting to me because of the way they speak to the “home” culture as much as the “encountered” culture. Of course Mandeville can hardly be considered an unimpeachable ethnographic record of real encountered cultures – but he does represent within his work a popular and celebrated account of a European man’s reaction to otherness, and that, to me, speaks louder and clearer than any straightforward self-analysis or direct cultural commentary.
Still, as far as these things go, if there has to be some sort of enigma to resolve around Mandeville’s identity, props to Jackson for turning it into a British murder mystery. I hope that when they shoot the BBC miniseries, they have a vegetable lamb growing in the garden where the murdered man inevitably gets done in.
by Isaac Jackson, Miscellaneous Notes
This is a short article and mostly irrelevant to my interests. It simply stakes the claim that Sir John Mandeville was a kin-murderer who fled England to escape justice, and that the specific construction of his identity within the Travels is meant, among other things, to construct an alibi.
I am not particularly interested in solving the mystery of Mandeville’s “real” identity. Maybe I am just not a responsible scholar, but for my purposes, the only “identity” that matters is the one he creates for himself in his narrative. The Travels are interesting to me because of the way they speak to the “home” culture as much as the “encountered” culture. Of course Mandeville can hardly be considered an unimpeachable ethnographic record of real encountered cultures – but he does represent within his work a popular and celebrated account of a European man’s reaction to otherness, and that, to me, speaks louder and clearer than any straightforward self-analysis or direct cultural commentary.
Still, as far as these things go, if there has to be some sort of enigma to resolve around Mandeville’s identity, props to Jackson for turning it into a British murder mystery. I hope that when they shoot the BBC miniseries, they have a vegetable lamb growing in the garden where the murdered man inevitably gets done in.
Friday, September 3, 2010
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.
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.
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