The Travel Writings of Marguerite Blessington: The Most Gorgeous Lady on the Tour

by Aneta Lipska

Overview

This book derives from the conviction that Marguerite Blessington (1788–1849) merits scholarly attention as a travel writer, and thus offers the first detailed analysis of Blessington’s four travel books: ‘A Tour in The Isle of Wight, in the Autumn of 1820’ (1822), ‘Journal of a Tour through the Netherlands to Paris in 1821’ (1822), ‘The Idler in Italy’ (1839) and ‘The Idler in France’ (1841). It argues that travelling and travel writing provided Blessington with endless opportunities to reshape her public personae, demonstrating that her predilection for self-fashioning was related to the various tendencies in tourism and literature as well as the changing aesthetic and social trends in the first half of the nineteenth century.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781783086788
Publisher:	Anthem Press
Publication date:	06/01/2017
Series:	Anthem Studies in Travel
Pages:	178
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Aneta Lipska holds a PhD from the University of Silesia and has recently taught at Kazimierz Wielki University in Bydgoszcz, Poland, and at the State College in Włocławek, Poland. Her main research interests include travel literature of the nineteenth century as well as Anglo-Italian literary and cultural relations. In addition to the current book, The Travel Writings of Marguerite Blessington, Lipska has published several articles on Marguerite Blessington’s travel accounts.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations; List of Abbreviations; Acknowledgements; Preface; Introduction; Part I: Texts; 1. Paratexts; 2. From life to text; 3. Fictional strategies; Part II : Images; 4. Natural sceneries; 5. Ruins and edifices; 6. Sacred art and religious practices; Part III: Spaces; 7. Genoa: Byron’s companion; 8. Naples: Lady of the house; 9. Rome and Venice: Romantic traveller; 10. Paris: Writer of fashion and revolution; Conclusion; Notes; Bibliography; Index.