‘The Lies of a Distant Traveller’? The Travel Writing of Louis de Hennepin
‘The Lies of a Distant Traveller’? The Travel Writing of Louis de Hennepin
This chapter examines the Description of Louisiana by the Recollet priest Louis de Hennepin, in order to analyse the ways in which authority and truth-claims coincide and collide in this text. Although Hennepin has been excoriated as a ‘travel liar’ and opportunist, his texts reveal not only a wealth of accurate descriptive detail about the indigenous cultures he encountered but also a real awareness of cultural difference.
Keywords: Description of Louisiana, travel writing, authority, truth, indigenous culture, cultural difference
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