Journal | MDCCC 1800
Journal issue | 1 | 2012
Research Article | Lord Byron, Count Daru, and Anglophone Myths of Venice in the Nineteenth Century
Lord Byron, Count Daru, and Anglophone Myths of Venice in the Nineteenth Century
Abstract
During the century between 1815 and 1915, Anglophone travellers to Venice were often reluc- tant to engage with the realities they encountered in the city. In this essay, with particular emphasis on the decades before 1848, I explore the impact of the poet Lord Byron and the historian and apologist for Napoleon Count Daru in perpetuating myths about the city’s past and present. I examine the reasons for the durability of this Venetian imaginary, and in particular the persistence of distortions of the Venetian past. I then argue that such views came to be challenged, both from the perspective of more sensitive, in- formed, and scholarly engagement with the city, and as a consequence of markedly changed notions about its population, born of the dramatic events of the Risorgimento.
Published July 25, 2012 | Language: en
Copyright © 2012 David Laven. This is an open-access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction is permitted, provided that the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. The license allows for commercial use. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
Permalink http://doi.org/10.14277/2280-8841/MDCCC-1-12-1
