Discoveries and Literature: The Impact of Exploration on Renaissance Literature - Prof. Sá, Apuntes de Idioma Inglés

¡Descarga Discoveries and Literature: The Impact of Exploration on Renaissance Literature - Prof. Sá y más Apuntes en PDF de Idioma Inglés solo en Docsity! 1.3. TRAVELERS AND THE LITERATURE OF e DISCOVERY DISCOVERIES OF THE RENAISSANCE:  Taking the eastern route round the Cape of Good Hope, Vasco da Gama reached India in 1497–99  The Portuguese reached China in 1514  Voyaging westward, Columbus discovered the Bahamas, Cuba, Trinidad, and Venezuela (1492–98)  Magellan rounded Cape Horn and the Pacific was opened to the Western World  Though not then identified as a continent, Australia, Tasmania, and New Zealand were considered sizeable enough, though by Swift’s time only western Australia had been discovered  Australia had a great significance for utopian writing, including GT: since it was unknown, it could be peopled by the imagination  Knowledge of the world was pursued by voyagers sponsored by the Royal Society of London, whom Gulliver emulates  The Royal Society was devoted to experimental science and the gathering of empirical data  In Gulliver’s Travels Jonathan Swift takes great pains to establish a concrete geographical setting against which he can place fantastic materials for the ulterior purpose of satire  In “A Letter from Capt. Gulliver, to his Cousin Sympson,” Swift refers to “my cousin Dampier” (p. 7), I.e. William Dampier (1652–1715), author of A New Voyage Round the World (1697)