Susan Castillo
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- June 2013
- ISBN:
- 9781846311802
- eISBN:
- 9781846315084
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Liverpool University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5949/liverpool/9781846311802.003.0003
- Subject:
- Literature, Criticism/Theory
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. ...
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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.Less
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.
