Marco Polo’s Le Devisement du Monde: Narrative Voice, Language and Diversity

211 Pages·2013·1.684 MB·

by  Simon Gaunt

Gallica
Volume 31
Marco Polo’s
Le DeVisement Du monDe
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Gallica
IssN 1749–091X
General Editor: sarah Kay
Gallica aims to provide a forum for the best current work in medieval and renais-
sance French studies. literary studies are particularly welcome and preference is
given to works written in English, although publication in French is not excluded.
Proposals or queries should be sent in the first instance to the editor, or to the
publisher, at the addresses given below; all submissions receive prompt and
informed consideration.
Professor sarah Kay, Department of French, New York University, 13–19 Univer-
sity Place, 6th floor, New York, NY 10003, USA
The Editorial Director, Gallica, Boydell & Brewer ltd., Po Box 9, Woodbridge,
suffolk IP12 3DF, UK
Previously published titles in this series are listed at the end of this volume.
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Marco Polo’s
Le DeVisement Du monDe
NarraTIvE voIcE, laNGUaGE
aND DIvErsITY
sIMoN GaUNT
D. s. BrEWEr
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© simon Gaunt 2013
All Rights Reserved. Except as permitted under current legislation
no part of this work may be photocopied, stored in a retrieval system,
published, performed in public, adapted, broadcast,
transmitted, recorded or reproduced in any form or by any means,
without the prior permission of the copyright owner
The right of Simon Gaunt to be identified as
the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with
sections 77 and 78 of the copyright, Designs and Patents act 1988
First published 2013
D. s. Brewer, cambridge
IsBN 978–1–84384–352–8
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Po Box 9, Woodbridge, suffolk IP12 3DF, UK
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Papers used by Boydell & Brewer ltd are natural, recyclable products
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coNTENTs
Illustrations vi
acknowledgements vii
abbreviations and a note on citations and editions ix
Introduction: Le Devisement du monde: textual tradition and genre 1
1 Narrative voice and style: ‘ego Marcus Paulo’ 41
2 language and translation: ‘in lingua Galica dicitur’ 78
3 Knowledge, marvels and other religions: ‘oculis propriis videt’ 113
4 Diversity and alterity: ‘diversarum regionum mundanas 145
diversitates’
conclusion: ‘et ipse non notavit nisi pauca aliqua, que adhuc in 173
mente retinebat’
Bibliography 183
Index 195
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IllUsTraTIoNs
1 Monstrous Races illustrating Le Devisement du Monde. 120
MS Bodley 264, fol 218 r. Reproduced by permission of the
Bodleian Libraries, The University of Oxford.
2 The Execution of Nayan. © British Library Board. 132
All rights reserved. British Library, Royal 19 D 1, fo 85.
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acKNoWlEDGEMENTs
I have incurred many academic debts during the course of researching and
writing this book. stimulating discussions following invited papers/lectures
at the following institutions shaped the evolution of this project decisively:
columbia University (2006), University of Glasgow (2006), University
college london (2006), University of oxford (2006), University of Notting-
ham (2007), University of cambridge (2007), New York University (2008),
Princeton University (2008), University of Illinois at Urbana/champaign
(2009), Washington University in st louis (2009), University of Michigan
at ann arbor (2009), University of Texas at austin (2009) and the University
of Geneva (2009). similarly, feedback from participants at the following con-
ferences was invaluable: association Portugaise d’Etudes Françaises (Porto,
2006), ‘The Persistence of Philology’ (Toronto, 2007), Medieval academy
(Toronto, 2007), american comparative literature association (long Beach,
2008), ‘The spaces and locations of Medieval culture’ (london, 2009),
The canadian society of Medievalists (Montreal, 2010) and ‘The Ethics of
Translation’ (london, 2010). rather than name all the individuals who kindly
invited me to speak on these occasions and the many who listened attentively,
asked such useful questions and, on occasion, shared their own work with
me, I trust they will all recognize themselves in this list and accept my most
cordial and grateful thanks.
My colleagues in the French Department in King’s college london make
it an unparalleled environment in which to teach and think. I have also bene-
fited hugely from working with our outstanding recent and present graduate
students and would in particular like to mention camilla Barker, Gillian Ni
cheallaigh, Tom Hinton, richard Mason, Hannah Morcos, David Murray,
Jessica stacey, Jessica stoll and luke sunderland, all of whom have contrib-
uted to my thinking in this book. Jessica stoll did heroic work on the index
for which I am eternally grateful. In King’s special thanks are also due to
Jan Palmowski, who engineered study leave when I needed it and whose
unwavering support has been invaluable.
In the broader academic community I am particularly grateful to the
following for the interest they have shown in this project and in many cases
also for the help or advice they have offered: suzanne akbari, stefano asperti,
Bill Burgwinkle, Ardis Butterfield, Emma Campbell, Chris Cannon, Fabrizio
Cigni, Philippe Frieden, Jane Gilbert, Miranda Griffin, Elizabeth Guild, Noah
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Guynn, ruth Harvey, sarah Kay, sharon Kinoshita, Karla Mallette, Peggy
Mccracken, Bob Mills, linda Paterson, regina Psaki, Zrinka stahuljak,
Eleanora stoppino, Marion Uhlig-vuagnoux and Nicolette Zeeman. sarah
Kay offered enormously useful and characteristically incisive feedback as
series editor, as did Boydell and Brewer’s reader, whose comments led (I
hope) to tangible improvements. Patrick ffrench and Mark Treharne both did
some last-minute reading that was encouraging and helpful.
Finally, I should like to record some debts of a more personal nature.
Bill Burgwinkle, chris cannon, lisa Drew, Elizabeth Edwards, lizzie Eger,
Patrick ffrench, vanessa Gaunt, Joel Gouget, Belinda Graham, liz Guild,
Nick Harrison, ruth Harvey, Eddie Hughes, sarah Kay, Hector Kollias, Phil
levy, Jo Malt, Bob Mills, Daniel Monk, Florence Talks, Mark Treharne,
sarah Westlake and Nicolette Zeeman helped me – practically and other-
wise – through some very difficult times while I was working on this book.
I thank them all from the bottom of my heart. I dedicate this book to the
memory of my late aunt, the incomparable Monette Gaunt, who knew a thing
or two about diversity, and to four remarkable people without whom this
book would never have seen the light of day: Mr Khalid Gufhoor, Dr James
Hardy, Marianne Miller and Dr amen sibtain.
sG
london, september 2012
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aBBrEvIaTIoNs
DmF Dictionnaire du moyen Français, consulted on-line at http://
www.atilf.fr/dmf/
FeW Wartburg, Walther von, Franzözisches etymologishes Wörter-
buch, 25 vols (Tübingen: Niemeyer, 1922–2005)
Godefroy Godefroy, Frédéric, Dictionnaire de l’ancienne langue fran-
çaise et de tous ses dialectes, 10 vols (Paris: F. vieweg,
1880–1902)
Niemeyer Niemeyer, Jan Frederik, mediae Latinitatis Lexicon minus
(leiden: Brill, 1954–77)
Tl Tobler, alfred, and lommatzsch, Erhard, Altfranzösisches
Wörterbuch, 11 vols (Berlin: Weidmannsche, 1925–2002)
Editions of Le Devisement du Monde
I refer to a range of editions of different versions of Marco Polo’s Le
Devisement du monde, each of which uses a different system for referencing
the text, and some of which use unusual diacritics. Unless otherwise stipu-
lated, citations are from the so-called Franco-Italian redaction. The following
list indicates the editions used throughout, the form of references and any
unusual diacritics.
Franco-Italian redaction: Marco Polo, milione. Le Divisament dou monde.
il milione nelle redazioni toscana e franco-italiana, ed. Gabriella ronchi,
intro. by cesare segre (Milan: Mondadori, 1982). reproduces Benedetto’s
edition, but with some emendations. Uses roman numerals for chapters,
arabic for sentences. single angled brackets (e.g. <>) indicate where text has
been supplied; square brackets indicate corrections.
French redaction: Marco Polo, Le Devisement du monde, ed. Philippe
Ménard et al., 6 vols (Geneva: Droz, 2001–9): I, ed. Philippe Ménard (2001);
II, ed. Jeanne-Marie Boivin, laurence Harf-lancner and laurence Mathey-
Maille (2003); III, ed. Jean-claude Faucon, Danielle Quéruel and Monique
santucci (2004); Iv, ed. Joël Blanchard and Michel Quereuil (2005); v, ed.
Jean-claude Delclos and claude roussel (2006); vI, ed. Dominique Boutet,
Thierry Delcourt and Danièle James-raoul (2009). Uses arabic numerals for
chapter and line numbers. square brackets indicate text supplied from manu-
scripts other than the base.
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Pipino: Milion: Dle jediného rukopisu spoly s příslušným základem latin-
ským. Vydal, ed. Justin V. Prášek (Prague: Česká, Akademie Císaře Františka
Josefa, 1902). The text is divided into three books. references give page
numbers.
Ramusio: i viaggi di marco Polo, gentiluomo veneziano, in Giovanni Battista
ramusio, navigazioni e viaggi, ed. Marica Milanesi, 6 vols (Turin: Einaudi,
1978–88), III (1980), pp. 7–297. The text is divided into three books. refer-
ences give page numbers.
Tuscan redaction: Marco Polo, milione: versione toscana del trecento,
ed. valeria Bertolucci Pizzorusso, with an ‘indice ragionato’ by Giorgio r.
cardona (Milan: adelphi, 1975). Uses arabic numerals for chapters and sen-
tences. also reproduced in ronchi’s edition of the Franco-Italian redaction.
Venetian redaction: Marco Polo, il «milione» veneto: ms. Cm 211 della Bib-
lioteca Civica di Padova, ed. alvaro Barbieri and alvise andreose (venice:
Marsilio, 1999). Uses roman numerals for chapters, arabic for sentences.
Z: Marco Polo, milione. Redazione Latina del manoscritto Z, ed. alvaro
Barbieri (Parma: Fondazione Pietro Bembo/Ugo Guanda, 1998). Uses arabic
numerals for chapters and sentences.
Other frequently cited editions
Franco-Italian redaction: Marco Polo, il milione, ed. luigi Foscolo Bene-
detto (Florence: olschki, 1928)
French redaction: La Description du monde, ed. Pierre-Yves Badel (Paris:
livre de Poche, 1998)
Rustichello da Pisa: il romanzo arturiano di Rustichello da Pisa, ed. Fab-
rizio cigni (ospedaletto: Pacini, 1994)
Editions of other texts cited and all other references are given in footnotes.
A note on place-names and names
With the exception of place-names that are commonly used and that will
be instantly recognizable to modern readers (e.g. Japan, asia, africa etc.), I
adopt, when referring to the Devisement, the orthography of the Franco-Italian
redaction. Where this might make a place difficult to identify, a modern form
is then given in brackets, or in the translation. The modern forms of chinese
and Indo-chinese place-names are taken from stephen Haw’s catalogue in
marco Polo’s China: A Venetian in the Realm of Khubilai Khan (london and
New York: routledge, 2006). Modern forms of other place-names are taken
from Wikipedia. I realize that the spelling of some names is controversial:
here I have opted for recognizability and consistency.
Translations
all translations are my own.
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