Into The Wilderness Dream - Softcover

Barclay, Donald A; Wild, Peter; Maguire, James H.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0874804442 ISBN 13: 9780874804447

Publisher: University of Utah Press, 2002

Synopsis

Not just an exploration of our early Western European roots, these rich chronicles read as literature, first-person narratives of the greatest exploration adventures in historic times.

From the Platonic vision of Atlantis to Arthur’s Avalon, pre-Columbus Europeans imagined fabulous lands to the west—and after 1492, initial reports of a new world filled with golden El Dorados, warrior queens, and Fountains of Youth merely provided confirmation.

Although these dreams were soon tempered by reality, explorers continued to set off with expectation that shaped what they say, how they saw, and how they reacted. This complex of attitudes continues to affect the way we view our world, and these accounts provide an excellent source for insight into the metaphorical systems that have permeated European and American writing about the West since the Sixteenth century.

Into the Wilderness Dreams draws from the best of three dozen accounts by the Spanish, French, English, and American explorers who came before Lewis and Clark, and explores the roots of present Western Euro-American culture.

About this title

About the Author:

Donald A. Barclay is a reference librarian at New Mexico State University.
James H. Maguire is a professor of English at Boise State University.
Peter Wild is a professor of English at University of Arizona.
 

From Library Journal:

To the large and growing body of solid, scholarly material on the American West may now be added this volume of first-person narratives, each of which has been selected because of its insight into the historic role visionary dreams have played in exploration. Though the volume was collected and edited by two English professors and a librarian, it will probably find its largest audience among intellectual historians and historians of the early American West. The editors have attempted to include pieces that have literary integrity in their own right. Each of the selections, which range from anonymous legends to commentaries on the exploits of such historical giants as de Soto and Drake, is introduced by an essay providing a context for understanding it. Recommended for academic libraries and those collecting extensively in the area of the American West.
- William Emory Buchanan, Clarion Univ., Pa.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: University of Utah Press
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0874804442
• ISBN 13: 9780874804447
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 416