Europe and its encounter with the Amerindians: An introduction (original) (raw)

Writing in the midst of the Age of Discoveries, Montaigne observed that there was more work done interpreting interpretations than interpreting things; and that there were more books written about books than about any other subject (Essais III. xiii). We do nothing but gloss one another. he concluded. In a sense, the two aspects of interpretation alluded to by Montaigne are central to the articles collected here: interpretations of one culture by another, but also interpretations of those interpretations.