tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21165575.post8387318952324143188..comments2024-03-10T20:46:19.274-04:00Comments on In the Middle: Bodies in Motion ICord J. Whitakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06224143153295429986noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21165575.post-58573360106677341402008-11-03T18:36:00.000-05:002008-11-03T18:36:00.000-05:00Greg, will get to these as time permits, likely as...Greg, will get to these as time permits, likely as I add more portions to what I've posted. But I do want you to thank you for posting, and also for your time after my plenary. It was a pleasure to meet you.Jeffrey Cohenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17346504393740520542noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21165575.post-45034891732304092152008-10-31T14:25:00.000-04:002008-10-31T14:25:00.000-04:00I suppose I could (and probably should) clarify th...I suppose I could (and probably should) clarify the question I have at the end of my post.<BR/><BR/>Yes, Mandeville does say that he is leaving England and going to Jerusalem; yes, we have reminders that Jerusalem is the myddel of the earth; yes, in a religious context, as well as a cartographical one, Jerusalem is the myddel, as England is on the margins.<BR/><BR/>That I do not dispute. What I'm trying to get at with my question, I think, is the issue of where exactly Mandeville fits in all of this. If he is going towards Jerusalem, he's almost literally stepping onto the map from near-nothingness, especially when one thinks of how England was... minimally represented, let us say, on medieval maps.<BR/><BR/>In a way, what this does is it suggests just as fantastical a journey - the journey from near-nothingness or from marginality to something far more tangible.<BR/><BR/>If, however, Mandeville is really leaving the myddel, then it brings up the question of what exactly the 'myddel' is. We tend to think of it as being a point of accessibility. We can take many routes to get there, just as we can take many routes back out of it. However, if Mandeville is leaving the myddel - England - then there really aren't many options for him, are there? He can go to France. He can go to Ireland. He can go to Scotland. He can go to Scandinavia. The only way he can get places is to go through these other locales, unless he decides to imitate St Brendan and set off in a boat across the seas.<BR/><BR/>It's almost as if his journey across land is meant to evoke this same imagery of the sea being home to wondrous, mythical, and terrible beasts and forces of nature.<BR/><BR/>Perhaps what Mandeville is trying to do is remain <I>off</I> the map in the first place. After all, the most wondrous things live and happen off the map, and the margins themselves are much larger than the myddel itself. (If we think in terms of a map, this becomes clear: the edges/margins of the world are much larger/longer than the myddel.)<BR/><BR/>The myddel itself is an invitation to explore the margins - there is far more room as one approaches the margins for remarkable events to occur, just as they did in Jerusalem when it was itself on the margins in the time of Christ and the Roman emperors.<BR/><BR/>Right. Will stop now - ha.Greg Carrierhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18016791442312149994noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21165575.post-84173033242377725612008-10-31T13:54:00.000-04:002008-10-31T13:54:00.000-04:00One thing that strikes me is that this has a lot i...One thing that strikes me is that this has a lot in common with the labyrinths that are present in some medieval churches (Chartres being the most famous instance).<BR/><BR/>That's how I was thinking of Mandeville as I was listening to your talk at SEMA.<BR/><BR/>I would like to posit the possibility that the Book does not fully encircle the world in its peregrinations precisely because it is a labyrinth in and of itself. I have not yet been to Chartres (alas!), but having seen pictures of the labyrinth, it's remarkable how many times you get tantalisingly close to the centre...and then suddenly veer away, finding yourself even further away than before.<BR/><BR/>Perhaps the Book is not necessarily so much 'in the myddel' as it is of the margins: I think that what the Book is attempting to suggest is that it is precisely the journey that counts more than the destination. Once you have reached the centre of the labyrinth, you must once again leave it - we cannot bend or break the rules and (magically) teleport ourselves outside of the maze itself.<BR/><BR/>That 'missing space' in Mandeville's journey around the world is, to me, the result of the journey in the labyrinth itself. Even if we follow the exact same route back 'home', back out of the 'myddel', our priorities and views have changed as a result of that journey <I>into</I> the myddel in the first place. The journey itself is thus not exactly the same as it was coming in - there is that little piece, that little difference that distinguishes between the journey into the myddel, to Jerusalem, and back home again.<BR/><BR/>One more point and I'll zip it and let others reply.<BR/><BR/>Where exactly <I>is</I> the myddel? Is not the experience of being in the myddel different for a traveller from England or Bordeaux as it is for someone who <I>already</I> lives in the myddel (in this instance, in or near Jerusalem)? This needs further explication, I think, because it also comes back to the idea of peregrination and whether it's unidirectional or not.<BR/><BR/>I often wonder if Mandeville and/or his author considered England to be the myddel <I>when Mandeville was in Jerusalem</I>. Perhaps by turning around right before getting back to England, 'Mandeville' (however we wish to see him, as the author or ... 'character' in the 'story') was able to maintain this idea (not fiction!) that England was indeed the myddel, or at the very least, a myddel of sorts.<BR/><BR/>Just as at Chartres, 'Mandeville' has traversed a labyrinth of sorts - the only question is, was he going <I>into</I> the labyrinth in the place, or <I>leaving</I> it?Greg Carrierhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18016791442312149994noreply@blogger.com