About the Book
Excerpts from over 100 travel writings of Europe, from 16th c. pilgrimage diaries thru early specimens of modern tourism accounts to 20th c. impressions from the other side of the Iron Curtain By focusing on east European travel writings, this work enlarges both the documentary base and the terms of the debate over a rich source for discussions of identities and mentalities; knowledge and power; gender; and cultural change. The texts – chosen for their relevance, but literary criteria have also been taken into account – illustrate the variety of ways in which east Europeans have written about the West. Most of the material is presented in English for the first time or, in a few cases, rescued from dusty oblivion in long out-of-print volumes. Each text is introduced with a short passage placing it in context. This is the first volume of the three-part set East Looks West. Vol. 2. Under Eastern Eyes. A Comparative Introduction to East European Travel Writing on Europe, 1550–2000; Vol. 3. A Bibliography of East European Travel Writing on Europe.
Table of Contents:
East European Travel Writing: A Guide to Orientation I. Europe in All its Variety (16th–18th centuries) Words for the Traveller Bartolomæus Georgius, A phrasebook for captives (1544) Joannes Sambucus, Against travel (1564) David Froelich, Instructions for travel: Ars apodemica (1639) Mihály Nadányi, Paternal advice, 1656 Anonymous Proskynetarion, He who has this book in his home, has a great treasure, 1742 Variations: Pilgrims, Emissaries, Scholars and Adventurers Nicander Nucius, Journey to the Occident, 1546 Antonius Verantius, A land so foreign to ours, 1553 Anonymous Pole, Pilgrimage diary, 1595 Simeon of Poland, An Armenian pilgrimage to Rome, 1611 Márton Szepsi Csombor, Europe’s Diversity: England (1620) Daniel Strejc Vetter, Iceland (1638) Osman-aga of Temesvar, Escape from the infidels, 1724 Vasyl' Hryhorovych-Bars'kyi, A defence of pilgrimage, 1724 Marco Antonio Cazzaiti, A Venetian Greek in the Ottoman Balkans, 1742 Partenii Pavlovich, Sinful sufferings, 1749 Constantin Hurmuzaki, Faking exile on a Greek island, 1764 Juwenalis Charkiewicz, A Franciscan’s journey from Lithuania to Spain, 1768 Ruggiero Boscovich, An ‘Astronomical Voyage’ through the Apennines (1770) Mauritius Benyowsky, Exile to Siberia (1790) II. Voyages of Discovery (18th-mid-19th centuries) On Travel Writing Leopold Berchtold, The Inquiries of Patriotic Travellers (1789) Milota Polák, Reasons for travel writing (1821) Krystyn Lach Szyrma, ‘Miraculous and absurd’ accounts of the Sclavonians (1823) Polyxena Wesselényi, Writing as a woman (1842) Lorinc Tóth, Up off your cushions! (1844) Dragutin Galac, On (domestic) travel (1846) Discoveries in Europe Greeks: from the Latin West to Europe Ioannis Pringos, Amsterdam Chronicle, 1760s-70s Stamates Petrou, Letters from Amsterdam, 1770s Adamantios Korais, Letter from Paris to Smyrna, 1788 South Slav travellers: Light and darkness, East and West Dositej Obradovic, Educational pilgrimages (1788) Gerasim Zelic, A representative of Orthodox Dalmatia (1823) From Moldavia and Wallachia: Dinicu Golescu, Learning from Enlightened Europe (1826) Nicolas Soutzo, Geography or class? 1820s Hungarian reformers: István Széchenyi, Three things to be learned in England, 1815 Sándor Bölöni Farkas, Questions about Hungary, 1830 Bertalan Szemere, ‘Images of Hungary and the Hungarians’ (1840) From Poland, before and after partition: Stanislaw August Poniatowski, English education, 1775 August Moszynski, The further we go, the worse things get, 1784-85 Zygmunt Krasinski, London and Messina, 1839 Lucja Rautenstrachowa, Industrial civilization (1841) Domopis: Travel at Home Alecu Russo, ‘Fragment from a Journey in Upper Moldavia in 1839’, 1839 Ivan Trnski, Our travellers vs. foreign ones (1839) Ljubomir Nenadovic, Travelling at home, German-style, 1845 Janko Buor, A nationalist pilgrimage (1846) Emanuel Arnold, On the run in Bohemia, 1849 Gheorghe Sion, Frontier ambivalence (1857) Domopis: Slav Travels Jan Potocki, Travels in Search of Slavic Antiquities (1795) Ján Kollár, Daughters of Slava (1843) Antun Nemcic, Travel Trifles (1845) Václav Stanek, Railways and Slavs (1846) Anton Aškerc, Equal to the Russians (1903) Karel Drož, The idea and practice of a Slavonic travelogue (1907) Franjo Ksaverski Horvat-Kiš, Sokol excursion (1911) Václav Karel Krofta, The sea! The sea! (1923) Variations: Three Women Dragojla Jarnevic, My sphere of activity is too narrow…, 1839–1840 Polyxena Wesselényi, Travels in Italy and Switzerland (1842) Dora D’Istria, The women of Greece (1863) III. On the Tourist Track (mid-19th century–1940s) Tourists and Travel Writing Albert Pákh, The Hungarian tourist (1855) Miltiades Vratsanos, The Greek tourist, 1861 Nicolae Filimon, Real Magyars: the complacent tourist (1863) Ion Codru Dragusanu, The Transylvanian Pilgrim; the patriotic tourist (1865) Nicolae Iorga, Recollections from Italy: the anti-tourist (1890) Ion Caragiale, Letter from Berlin: the ironic tourist, 1905 The European ....
Review :
"The reader may find literary gems, presenting insights on customs, mentalities, cultural differences, gender, and class, as well as describing the scenery of the visited land. Encompassing both the nation and the world, these perceptive glimpses, as well as descriptions of cities and terrain of European countries, place in focus political and cutlural issues that create the East-West apposition - for example liminality, inferiority, and practice of justice. Summing up: recommended."
"In short, this book is an enjoyable and informative read, a good resource for scholars of Europe, and exceptionally well suited for use in the classroom."
"Wendy Bracewell's anthology makes it possible to imagine a dialogue between Western and Eastern European travellers. In order to represent 20 languages Bracewell collaborated with a team of editors and translators. The remarkable variety of selections in the anthology includes both published and unpublished sources. The book consists of five chronologically sequenced sections, each of which includes clusters that highlight themes or itineraries characteristic of the given period."
