The Imprisoned Traveler : : Joseph Forsyth and Napoleon's Italy.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter Rutgers University Press Complete eBook-Package 2020
• Place / Publishing House: Lewisburg, PA : : Bucknell University Press, , [2019]; ©2020
• Year of Publication: 2019
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (230 p.) :; 22 color illustrations, 12 b-w illustrations

The Imprisoned Traveler is a fascinating portrait of a unique book, its context, and its elusive author. Joseph Forsyth, traveling through an Italy plundered by Napoleon, was unjustly imprisoned in 1803 by the French as an enemy alien. Out of his arduous eleven-year “detention” came his only book, Remarks on Antiquities, Arts, and Letters during an Excursion in Italy (1813). Written as an (unsuccessful) appeal for release, praised by Forsyth’s contemporaries for its originality and fine taste, it is now recognized as a classic of Romantic period travel writing. Keith Crook, in this authoritative study, evokes the peculiar miseries that Forsyth endured in French prisons, reveals the significance of Forsyth’s encounters with scientists, poets, scholars, and ordinary Italians, and analyzes his judgments on Italian artworks. He uncovers how Forsyth’s allusiveness functions as a method of covert protest against Napoleon and reproduces the hitherto unpublished correspondence between the imprisoned Forsyth and his brother. Published by Bucknell University Press. Distributed worldwide by Rutgers University Press.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Content -- List of Illustrations -- Preface -- List of Abbreviations -- 1 The Historical Moment of Forsyth’s Italy -- 2 Forsyth’s Prisons -- 3 The 1813 and the 1816 Versions of Forsyth’s Italy -- 4 Talking to Italians -- 5 The Hidden Thoughts of Joseph Forsyth -- 6 Visual Arts, Architecture, and Literature -- The Letters of the Forsyth Brothers -- Appendix A: Works of Art Forsyth Saw -- Appendix B: A Sequence for the Passages Omitted from the First Edition of Forsyth’s Italy -- Acknowledgments -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index