Les écrivains voyageurs ou les voyageurs écrivains de journaux et relations d’un voyage aux Indes Orientales (1690-1691)
Our article focuses on the maritime writing in the form of diaries and accounts of a voyage to the East Indies in 1690 and 1691, by Robert Challe, Claude-Michel Pouchot de Chantassin, P. Lenfant, Fr. Charmot, Fr. Tachard and admiral Abraham Du Quesne-Guitton. Crucial and hitherto unpublished insider’s accounts of the living conditions of seafarers in the late 17th century, the diaries and relations of a voyage to the East Indies in 1690-1691 offer rich information on the subject. Young officer Robert Challe, navy guards Pouchot de Chantassin and Lenfant, Father Charmot – member of the Missions Etrangères – and a Jesuit priest, Father Tachard, provide a realistic description of everyday life on the first French watercraft armed for the East India Company and Louis XIV. Seafaring, battles, storms, political strife and trade wars, together with the approach to an exotic world “discovered” for the first time make up the thread of the narrative. Later, in an account dated 1721, however, the aging Challe’s narrative style is found to have evolved into genuine novel writing. This specific study of maritime writing thus shows once more the ambiguity of any travel narrative.
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