Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• McCall, Anne E.

Titel

Still Life and Fetal Exploits in Flora Tristan’s Pérégrinations d’une paria

Ist Teil von

• Romanic Review, 2007-01, Vol.98 (1), p.83-101

Ort / Verlag

Durham: Duke University Press

Erscheinungsjahr

2007

Link zum Volltext

Quelle

Literature Online (LION)

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• The testimony of her separation from her daughter and of her failed quest to claim her paternal inheritance is, like that of all wronged believers, a valuable contribution to a society not fully aware or convinced of its injustices: S'il ne s'agissait que de rapporter des faits, les yeux suffiraient pour les voir; mais, pour apprécier l'intelligence et les passions de l'homme, l'instruction n'est pas seule nécessaire, il faut encore avoir souffert et beaucoup souffert; car il n'y a que l'infortune qui puisse nous apprendre à connaître au juste ce que nous valons et ce que valent les autres. The question of her epistemic defects and thus of her ability to report accurately on matters that she literally could not see creates a gnawing hole in the text, but not unconsciously as many have argued; rather, blurred vision, uncertain knowledge, and testimony that is as incomplete as unacceptable become central to Tristan's account.2 In the interim and by the time the traveling protagonist makes her preliminary incursion onto foreign soil at the Cape Verde islands, she is no longer or not only a marginal, suffering citizen but an observer aligned with the masses of well-read, Western travelers who embrace the role of amateur ethnographer and scientist as soon as they leave home.