Subjects in between: three different way of translating experience by Italian travelers in late 17th - early 18th century Ottoman space

Abstract

The essay focuses on Italian travelers in the Ottoman Empire between the late seventeenth and the beginning of the eighteenth century. Through analysis of four works and the detection of three different ways of translating the “real act” of traveling into literature, we introduce experience as an epistemological tool. Impersonal narration, treatment of the act of knowing as a personal achievement and narration as a way of sharing a conscious encounter with the “other” convey a knowledge based on first-hand experience. Leaving behind the principle of authority based on tradition, a new dignity was given to authority that came from the physical act of the concrete experience of the author himself. The ability of authors to overcome prejudices in their narratives of their encounters with Turkish culture and society should not be given for granted. Nevertheless, there is greater articulation and sensitivity in the definition of diversity. The dissemination and editorial success of this kind of writings had also an impact on the mentality of these author’s readers in the Italian peninsula.