The Travels of Sir John Mandeville and the Moral Geography of the Medieval World

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Charles Moseley

Abstract

Mandeville’s Travels was, for more than two centuries after its appearance in  c.1356, of enormous influence and popularity in many fields of European culture. This paper discusses first its unprecedented generic eclecticism and its casting into the form of a first person narrative, and then proceeds to explore concepts of space and how a journey narrative may be articulated. Finally, it moves to consideration of the journey and what the traveller reports as having encountered on it as a moral exploration of a world seen as symbol as well as material.

Article Details

Section
Geographies of Identity Special Issue January 2015 (Peer Reviewed)
Author Biography

Charles Moseley, University of Cambridge

Dr Charles Moseley is a Fellow of Hughes Hall, Cambridge and an Affiliated Lecturer in the Faculty of English of the University of Cambridge where he has taught Classics and English Literature for many years. He is General Editor (Literature Insights) of the unique and innovative academic e-book project Humanities-Ebooks.co.uk. The author of an extensive list of academic and other publications, Charles has lectured at universities, schools and societies in many countries around the world on topics as diverse as Shakespeare, the history of travel literature, the Norsemen, Medieval art and his own travels in the Arctic. Recent published essays range from Elizabethan painting to nineteenth century printing technology and the topographical drawings of Alfred Wainwright.