James Boswell and Corsica 1728–1768
The development of British opinion during the Corsican revolt
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 11344946 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Luke Long (University of St Andrews, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2019 |
| Volume | 45 |
| Issue | 6 |
| Pages | 817-841 |
| Publication date | 2019-08-18 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | History of European Ideas (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0191-6599 • E-ISSN: 1873-541X |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/01916599.2019.1592937 |
| OpenAlex | W2924174427 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 3 |
| References cited | 9 |
James Boswell (1740–1795) is most famous for writing the masterly biography of his friend and mentor The Life of Samuel Johnson, published in 1791, only a few years before his own death. However, during Boswell’s own lifetime he was far more famous for his other major work, the Account of Corsica (1768). The Account of Corsica has been rather neglected by modern scholarship. This article will attempt show its importance in the context of the mid eighteenth century. Boswell’s Account was in fact the latest in a series of British publications concerning the island of Corsica during the eighteenth century. This article will attempt to trace the evolution of the ideas of Corsica that developed in Britain; beginning with the outbreak of the Corsican revolt in 1728, and culminating with the publication of Boswell’s Account of Corsica in 1768. Corsica became an important case study for British self-reflection, concerning the type of Empire they would become. The main question raised by the case study of Corsica was whether Britain should be an empire that protects liberty across the globe, or a metropolitan commercial state
Ancient history · Archaeology · Art history · Biography · Context (archaeology · Corsican · Empire · Globe · Political science · Scholarship · State (computer science · American Constitutional Law and Politics · Classics · European Political History Analysis · Historical Art and Culture Studies · History · Law · Philosophy
| Citations per year | 0.43 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2019 - 2022 (4) |
| Highly cited | No |