Global InformationThe Travels of Marco Polo information
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| Authors | Rustichello da Pisa and Marco Polo |
|---|---|
| Original title | Livres des Merveilles du Monde |
| Country | Republic of Venice |
| Language | Franco-Venetian |
| Genre | Travel literature |
Publication date | c. 1300 |
Dewey Decimal | 915.042 |
Book of the Marvels of the World (Italian: Il Milione, lit. 'The Million', possibly derived from Polo's nickname "Emilione"),[1] in English commonly called The Travels of Marco Polo, is a 13th-century travelogue written down by Rustichello da Pisa from stories told by Italian explorer Marco Polo. It describes Polo's travels through Asia between 1271 and 1295, and his experiences at the court of Kublai Khan.[2][3]
The book was written by romance writer Rustichello da Pisa, who worked from accounts which he had heard from Marco Polo when they were imprisoned together in Genoa.[4] Rustichello wrote it in Franco-Venetian,[5][6][7] a literary language widespread in northern Italy between the subalpine belt and the lower Po between the 13th and 15th centuries.[8] It was originally known as Livre des Merveilles du Monde or Devisement du Monde ("Description of the World"). The book was translated into many European languages in Marco Polo's own lifetime, but the original manuscripts are now lost, and their reconstruction is a matter of textual criticism. A total of about 150 copies in various languages are known to exist, including in Old French,[9] Tuscan, two versions in Venetian, and two different versions in Latin.
From the beginning, there has been incredulity over Polo's sometimes fabulous stories, as well as a scholarly debate in recent times.[10] Some have questioned whether Marco had actually traveled to China or was just repeating stories that he had heard from other travelers.[11] Economic historian Mark Elvin concludes that recent work "demonstrates by specific example the ultimately overwhelming probability of the broad authenticity" of Polo's account, and that the book is, "in essence, authentic, and, when used with care, in broad terms to be trusted as a serious though obviously not always final, witness."[12]
- ^ ... volendosi ravvisare nella parola "Milione" la forma ridotta di un diminutivo arcaico "Emilione" che pare sia servito a meglio identificare il nostro Marco distinguendolo per tal modo da tutti i numerosi Marchi della sua famiglia. (Ranieri Allulli, MARCO POLO E IL LIBRO DELLE MERAVIGLIE – Dialogo in tre tempi del giornalista Qualunquelli Junior e dell'astrologo Barbaverde, Milano, Mondadori, 1954, p.26)
- ^ Polo 1958, p. 15.
- ^ Boulnois 2005.
- ^ Jackson 1998.
- ^ Congress, Library of (1993). "Library of Congress Subject Headings, Volume 2". Archived from the original on 28 September 2021. Retrieved 8 January 2020.
- ^ Maria Bellonci, "Nota introduttiva", Il Milione di Marco Polo, Milano, Oscar Mondadori, 2003, p. XI [ITALIAN]
- ^ "Repertorio informatizzato dell'antica letteratura franco-italiana". Archived from the original on 21 October 2019. Retrieved 20 December 2019.
- ^ "Fragment of Marco Polo's Il Milione in Franco-Venetian language, University of Padua RIAlFrI Project". Archived from the original on 8 April 2020. Retrieved 29 April 2020.
- ^ ^ Marco Polo, Il Milione, Adelphi 2001, ISBN 88-459-1032-6, Prefazione di Bertolucci Pizzorusso Valeria, pp. x–xxi.
- ^ Taylor 2013, pp. 595–596.
- ^ Wood 1996.
- ^ Vogel 2013, p. xix.