Original scientific paper

Interest in English Language and Culture in Ragusa on the Eve of the Fall of the Republic

Veselin Kostić ; Faculty of Philology of the University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia

Abstract

After the end of the great period of economic, maritime and other relations between the Republic of Ragusa in England after 1650, cultural links between the two states were almost completely severed for nearly a century. The paper discusses some signs of revival of interest in English language and culture in Ragusa in the latter half of the eighteenth and at the beginning of the nineteenth century. There were people in Ragusa who took pains to learn English, who were anxious to obtain English books and who were interested in the philosophical, historical and literary works of English authors. Evidence of this interest can be found in the private correspondence of some Ragusan intellectuals, in the translations of English works made in Ragusa, and, particularly, in the catalogues of some family libraries that have been preserved. The author analyzes this evidence and comes to the conclusion that it extends considerably our knowledge of the presence and influence of English culture in this region.

Keywords

English-Ragusan cultural links; English books in Ragusan private libraries; Toma Bassegli; Ossianic poems; John Milton; The Spectator; Alexander Pope; John Locke

Hrčak ID:

73113

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/73113

Publication date:

5.10.2011.

Visits: 1.922 *