The Book of John Mandeville: with Related Texts

(Paperback)

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Description

The work now known as Mandeville's Travelsa fictive traveler's guide to the East, both Near and Farwas a late-Medieval bestseller, more popular in its day than Marco Polo's Travels. The original French version, a creative synthesis of some three dozen other works including genuine travel books, was quickly translated into eleven languages, and over 300 manuscripts have survived. In the process of being so often copied and translated, the "original" text was often altered, sometimes drastically, and the changes introduced by the copyists and translators reveal a wealth of information about the Medieval European mind and its views of the "other."

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Honorable Mention Recipient, 2011 MLA Scaglione Prize for an Outstanding Translation of a Literary Work: The Book of John Mandeville , one of the most important medieval travel books, has been translated into English from the original Anglo-Norman French for the first time since the late fourteenth century. Iain Macleod Higgins's accurate, readable, and judiciously edited rendering now supersedes the modernizations of Middle English versions that have hitherto been the English-speaking world's chief access to a work second only to Marco Polo's Travels in its influence and the duration of its popularity. Higgins's copious annotation, detailed index, and inclusion of translated excerpts from Mandeville's sources and other relevant texts make this a historically important contribution to our knowledge of medieval travel literature and of Western perceptions of non-Western peoples. Impressive scholarship combines with skillful translation of a medieval work with great modern relevance." -- Modern Language Association
Iain Macleod Higgins's edition of The Book of John Mandeville with Related Texts offers the first English translation from the Anglo-Norman for 600 years, together with a collection of excerpts from a range of sources that inform this synthesized travel narrative. Higgins's edition is at once scholarly and highly readable, combining a lively translation of this hugely influential work with judicious commentary on the text and textual tradition, its contexts, and criticism. Its publication in a highly affordable paperback edition makes an impressive piece of scholarship into a valuable teaching text. -- The Year's Work in English Studies , (Volume 92, Issue 1 2013)

Author Bio

Iain Macleod Higgins is Associate Professor of English and Director of Medieval Studies, University of Victoria.