The Dream as travel narrative: except this one travels both on Earth and in the heavens- the ship takes him throughout Europe: Denmark, Norway, etc. “After a few days a north wind sprang up and drove the ship between Norway and England…” (p-12) and with the Daemon, instead of to the New World, we're hearing about the heavens “Fifty thousand miles up in the ether lies the island of Levania.” (p-15). In both locations, we read specifics about mileage, winds, the rigors of traveling, how long a journey takes and what the days and nights are like.
So funny, because he mentions the idea that “the whole of Levania does not exceed fourteen hundred German miles in circumference, that is a quarter of our earth.” (p-27) and while this is a comparison, like any other travel narrative makes between what is home and what is foreign, it also includes a qualifier of “German” miles…making the comparison even more specific, than just a comparison using generic distance. (there was a really funny parallel with measurement in Umberto Eco’s novel The Name of the Rose, where one of the character’s is trying to get information and is sidetracked by a monk’s description of various modes of measurement within the same country (tablets, trabucchi, emine, brente and tankards (p-269).
By contrast, its interesting to note that Trickster Travels, in referencing Yuhanna al-Asad and his book The Cosmography and Geography of Africa, mentions that al-Asad didn’t try to give locations using latitude, longitude, or number of days traveled (p-101), but instead attempted to use an estimate o distance in (unquantified) miles. travel narratives, no matter where theya re located or who they involve always try to bring back the idea of how it compares to what the reader knows, and how it can be (in some way) measured and quantified.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment