French Odysseys : Greece in French Travel Literature from the Renaissance to the Romantic Era

Baltimore: Johns Hopkins, 1994 Book. New. Hardcover. 1st.US Edition. In "French Odysseys", Olga Augustinos offers a comprehensive treatment of French travel literature about Greece - from the mid-16th-century arrival of the first French travellers to the outbreak of the Greek Revolution in 1821. The result not only provides a composite portrait of Greece over two and a half centuries but also offers a revealing look at the evolving values and perceptual framework of the travellers themselves. Augustinos begins by exploring the dramatic differences between French travel writing of the early modern era and previous accounts of medieval religious pilgrimages. In place of otherworldly invocations of the grace of divine providence came emphasis on visual perception and precise observation as a means of understanding the physical universe. After 1750, in keeping with developments in European literature, travelogues became infused with sentimental musings, picturesque portrayals of natural sites and monuments, and lyrical effusions that injected a personal, subjective note into what had previously been factual narratives. Yet European travel literature on Greece, Augustinos explains, also has a unique dimension.The legacy of the classical past - real or imagined - made the country seem closer to the West, while its state of subjugation placed it in the penumbra between East and West. Confronted with the discrepancy between classical ideal and contemporary reality, travellers increasingly attempted to impose their preconceptions of what "Greece" ought to be, a process that culminated in the emergence of philhellenism in the late-18th century. 345 p.plates bibliography.index.