Le Grand Voyage
THE GRAND TOUR
When you think of the modern tourism industry you may think of immaculately kept resorts in Hawaii, safaris on the African savannahs, or the slopes of mountains where skiers rush down at high speeds. But back in the early 1800s when Mary Shelley was alive, tourism was much different. At a time where Britain held political, economic, and military hegemony over the whole world, many young men and women from well-off families were enabled to go into the world and see what was out there. Many popular destinations would include Rome, so that the tourists could see first hand the remnants of such a grand empire. Greece was also a popular destination for young classicists to see the ruins of Ancient Greece and for young adventurers alike as the region was in the grips of conflict between the Greeks and Ottomans. Lord Byron, one of Mary Shelley's companions on the trip that produced Frankenstein, died whilst adventuring in Greece. (3)
But more broadly speaking, the "Grand Tour" was a way for young, predominantly English, people to reinforce their superiority over the European continent. Much of the non-fiction writings of the time from tourists talk down upon the inhabitants of the continent as being less culturally progressed and technologically stunted. And there was also much to be said about the poor state of many of the great European cities like Rome, Paris, Florence, Venice, and Marseille which had all seen better days by the early 1800s. (1)
This Tour also served in many ways to reinforce preconceived notions about foreigners. The writings of Shakespeare (Othello, Romeo and Juliet, and The Merchant of Venice), Edgar Allen Poe (The Cask of Amontillado, The Pendulum, and The Masque of Red Death), and many other romantic writers used foreign settings, often in Southern Europe, as a way to reinforce just how great more Northern countries like the UK and the US were by keeping the drama out of those countries. (2)
Shelley even does this by having Walton describe Victor in such an off-hand way when they first meet in the Arctic and then having the story take place in Switzerland, which was very far away from England, and is often described in a medieval sort of way. But what's unique about Gothic stories such as Frankenstein and Dracula, is that they bring the drama and horror to other places. Dracula brought the vampire from far-away Transylvania to England and Frankenstein's creation goes all the way through Europe into the north of the Arctic.
The Grand Tour is such a fascinating phenomenon because it occurred at a time where Europe was finally getting settled after the Napoleonic Wars, when revolutions in France and South America were bringing forward the ideas of freedom and personal liberty (Simon Bolivar was noted as participating in his own tourism before leading his first revolutions), and when some of the most talented authors rose to prominence with their idealized stories of romanticism such as Shelley's Frankenstein, Dumas's Count of Monte Cristo, and Byron's Don Juan. It is quite an artistically inspiring piece of history that shows off how exposure to other parts of our world can produce some of the greatest works of art in our culture.
Works Cited:
1. Evans,
Richard J. ”The Victorian 'Grand Tour' - Professor Richard J Evans, Gresham
College history lecture”. YouTube. uploaded by Gresham College. 5 May,
2011. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6QbDYLhJNYw
2. Buzard,
James. “The Uses of Romanticism: Byron and the Victorian Continental Tour.”
Victorian Studies, vol. 35, no. 1, Indiana University Press, 1991, pp. 29–49, http://www.jstor.org/stable/3827763.
3. Sorabella,
J. “The Grand Tour.” The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Oct. 2003. Accessed
Mar. 4th, 2022. https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/grtr/hd_grtr.htm
4. Willmore, A. Lord George Byron contemplating the Colosseum in Rome. 1850, Biblioteque de Arts Decrotif, Paris, France
5. Purser, W. Villia Diodati, near Geneva, where Lord Byron, Mary Shelley, Percy Shelley, and John Polidori stayed in, n.d.
Comments
Post a Comment