Analyzes the linguistic, rhetorical, and literary innovations that emerged out of the encounters between Europeans and indigenous peoples of the Americas. Through analysis of six texts, this book demonstrates the role of language in forming the identities or characters that permitted Europeans to adapt to the unusual circumstances of encounter.
Through an in-depth analysis of writings by John Mandeville, Richard Eden, George Best, Ralph Lane, John Smith and John Underhill, this study traces the selection, combination, adaptation and invention of rhetorical strategies that English-speaking Europeans used to make sense of their encounters with the Americas. The author explores how these rhetorical strategies enabled European colonists to form new ways of understanding themselves and their relationship to the indigenous inhabitants.
Through an in-depth analysis of writings by John Mandeville, Richard Eden, George Best, Ralph Lane, John Smith and John Underhill, this study traces the selection, combination, adaptation and invention of rhetorical strategies that English-speaking Europeans used to make sense of their encounters with the Americas. The author explores how these rhetorical strategies enabled European colonists to form new ways of understanding themselves and their relationship to the indigenous inhabitants.