Voyage to Cayenne, in the Two Americas and among the Anthropophagi (Vol. 1)

Louis Ange PitouProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 3.0

Word count: 421K words
Chapters: 43

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Voyage À Cayenne, dans les deux Amériques et chez les anthropophages (Vol. 1 deAuthor: Pitou, Louis Ange, 1767-1846,Language: French, Class: F2351: Latin America local history: Guiana, Release Date: Oct 21, 2012

Editor's review

Volume 1 of Voyage À Cayenne, dans les deux Amériques et chez les anthropophages is a French travel account by Louis Ange Pitou (1767–1846), a public-domain historical document prepared by Project Gutenberg as a free eBook. The title points to journeys to Cayenne, to both Americas, and to the region of the so-called "cannibals"; the content is classed as Latin American local history and has a clear character as a period record. Its value lies in offering the observations of a French traveler in the Americas from the late eighteenth to the early nineteenth century; it is useful for studying travel writing, colonial local history, and how Europeans narrated exotic cultures. Readers should recognize that the text carries the perspectives and prejudices of its time and should not treat it as neutral geography or ethnography. It suits slow reading as a historical source, with maps and historical background at hand, focusing on the narrator's way of observing and his wording rather than on story.

Who it's for

A good fit for

University readers studying travel writing and colonial-era American history
Learners who need French public-domain historical texts for reading practice
Readers interested in European narratives of the exotic and period prejudice
Those accustomed to slow reading of historical sources who are willing to consult maps

Not a good fit for

General readers seeking light entertainment or a continuous story
Beginners whose French is not yet up to old-fashioned prose
Students expecting modern scholarly notes and critical introductions

Reading tips

Read the table of contents and preface first to clarify the itinerary before entering the main text.
Keep a map of the Americas at hand and locate the places and routes as you read.
Note the narrator's wording in describing local peoples and reflect on his period stance.
Read a small section at a time and write a two-sentence summary to keep from losing the thread of a source text.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this book a novel or a historical source?

It is a historical source in the form of a travel account, recording the author's observations in Cayenne and various parts of the Americas; it is not a work of fiction. Read it in the context of late eighteenth- to early nineteenth-century travel writing and local history, and note the period limits of its perspective.

How should "cannibals" in the title be understood?

This is a sensationalizing expression common in European travel writing of the author's time, reflecting contemporary European imaginings and labeling of exotic peoples. Readers should not take it as an accurate anthropological description but as an entry point for studying period prejudice and narrative strategy.

Can I read this book if my French is not good?

The original is in French and in an old-fashioned style, so readers with weak French will struggle. Intermediate French reading ability or above is advisable; alternatively, learn the background first from bilingual materials and treat the book as training in combining language and historical sources rather than as an introductory reader.

Is this the complete work or a selection?

The information shows this is volume 1 of the work, not the complete text. Note the volume's scope as you read: content on later journeys may lie outside this volume, and other volumes would be needed for the full picture.

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

Louis Ange Pitou Author · French · 1767–1846

Louis Ange Pitou (1767–1846) was a French writer, born in Valainville and died in Paris. Originally a clergyman, he was arrested several times for his staunch royalist views and was exiled to French Guiana, from where he escaped back to France by way of Cayenne. This experience of exile became important material for his writing: his Relation de mon voyage à Cayenne et chez les anthropophages, published in 1805, recounts that period and attracted considerable public attention. Three of his works are held in this collection: the two-volume Voyage À Cayenne, dans les deux Amériques et chez les anthropophages and Le chanteur parisien. His writing draws largely on personal experience and observation and bears a clear personal stance and the mark of its era; as public information is limited, the details of his life and the full range of his works remain to be further examined.