Le corps en Asie vu par Marco Polo

The question of the human body, its appearance and its uses is at the heart of Polo’s observation, as much as the economic details. After having examined in the encyclopedias, strongly marked by Pliny, the expectations of the Franco-Italian public of the beginning of the 14th century, we address the...

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Main Author: Dominique Boutet
Format: Article
Language:fra
Published: Presses universitaires de la Méditerranée 2019-12-01
Series:Revue des Langues Romanes
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journals.openedition.org/rlr/1947
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author Dominique Boutet
author_facet Dominique Boutet
author_sort Dominique Boutet
collection DOAJ
description The question of the human body, its appearance and its uses is at the heart of Polo’s observation, as much as the economic details. After having examined in the encyclopedias, strongly marked by Pliny, the expectations of the Franco-Italian public of the beginning of the 14th century, we address the issue of physical otherness in the Devisement (for men and for their gods), emphasizing the importance of the destruction of the myths or at least of their decrease. We then study the uses and treatments of the body: as they strike against Western prohibitions, they are important markers of otherness. Finally, we study the “techniques of the body” (Marcel Mauss), the social practices which are the translation of the beliefs and the philosophy of life that Marco Polo also tries to report. We demonstrate this way that Marco Polo most often has a real ethnological look and that he tries to understand even more than to judge. For him, the treatments reserved for the human body make sense inside the whole of social life.
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publisher Presses universitaires de la Méditerranée
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spelling doaj-art-de3114ce71b94f69bf453f457f3574b72025-01-06T09:24:16ZfraPresses universitaires de la MéditerranéeRevue des Langues Romanes0223-37112391-114X2019-12-0112321524110.4000/rlr.1947Le corps en Asie vu par Marco PoloDominique BoutetThe question of the human body, its appearance and its uses is at the heart of Polo’s observation, as much as the economic details. After having examined in the encyclopedias, strongly marked by Pliny, the expectations of the Franco-Italian public of the beginning of the 14th century, we address the issue of physical otherness in the Devisement (for men and for their gods), emphasizing the importance of the destruction of the myths or at least of their decrease. We then study the uses and treatments of the body: as they strike against Western prohibitions, they are important markers of otherness. Finally, we study the “techniques of the body” (Marcel Mauss), the social practices which are the translation of the beliefs and the philosophy of life that Marco Polo also tries to report. We demonstrate this way that Marco Polo most often has a real ethnological look and that he tries to understand even more than to judge. For him, the treatments reserved for the human body make sense inside the whole of social life.https://journals.openedition.org/rlr/1947alteritytaboosmedieval imaginationsexualityethnology
spellingShingle Dominique Boutet
Le corps en Asie vu par Marco Polo
Revue des Langues Romanes
alterity
taboos
medieval imagination
sexuality
ethnology
title Le corps en Asie vu par Marco Polo
title_full Le corps en Asie vu par Marco Polo
title_fullStr Le corps en Asie vu par Marco Polo
title_full_unstemmed Le corps en Asie vu par Marco Polo
title_short Le corps en Asie vu par Marco Polo
title_sort le corps en asie vu par marco polo
topic alterity
taboos
medieval imagination
sexuality
ethnology
url https://journals.openedition.org/rlr/1947
work_keys_str_mv AT dominiqueboutet lecorpsenasievuparmarcopolo