Description
Book SynopsisThis book studies the nature of Venetian rule over the Slavs of Dalmatia during the eighteenth century, focusing on the cultural elaboration of an ideology of empire that was based on a civilizing mission toward the Slavs. The book argues that the Enlightenment within the Adriatic Empire of Venice was deeply concerned with exploring the economic and social dimensions of backwardness in Dalmatia, in accordance with the evolving distinction between Western Europe and Eastern Europe across the continent. It further argues that the primitivism attributed to Dalmatians by the Venetian Enlightenment was fundamental to the European intellectual discovery of the Slavs.
The book begins by discussing Venetian literary perspectives on Dalmatia, notably the drama of Carlo Goldoni and the memoirs of Carlo Gozzi. It then studies the work that brought the subject of Dalmatia to the attention of the European Enlightenment: the travel account of the Paduan philosopher Alberto Fortis, which was
Trade Review
"A fine imaginative historian who makes a persuasive case for the origin of the concept "eastern Europe," [Wolff] has a tendency to base his assertions not only on the findings of his meticulous research but on theories he discovered in the work of the late Michel Foucault, who sought to disclose how knowledge, in the guise of various scientific "discourses," exercised a disciplinary power." -- Slavic Review
"Drawing on a wide range of official sources—above all the end-of-mission relazioni of the Venetian governors of Dalmatia—and on contemporary literature, Wolff has written a stylish, thoughtful, and thought-provoking book which complements his important earlier study of the development in the Enlightenment of the idea of a gulf between an enlightened western and an unenlightened, uncivilized, eastern Europe. It will be of use to all those interested in Venice, its empire and its enlightenment in the eighteenth century, and in the question of changing national identity—particularly in the Balkans—between the eighteenth and the twentieth centuries." * History *
"Replete with meticulously annotated factual information, the book also contains colorful illustrations of Catholic-Orthodox, empire-colony and Slavic-Italian relations and a wealth of spirited anecdotes . . . .An excellent resource for scholars of this area." -- Canadian Slavonic Papers
"...an overwhelmingly thought-provoking book." * The Historical Journal *
"This is a fascinating, brilliant, compelling study of how many Europeans came to conceptualize the little-known 'barbarians' on the eastern fringes of Europe in the Enlightenment. . . . This new book goes still further in demonstrating how complex the whole question of recognizing difference and establishing what the definitions of civility were." -- Anthony Pagden * Johns Hopkins University *
Table of Contents
Introduction 1. The drama of the Adriatic empire: Dalmatian loyalty and the Venetian lion 2. The useful or curious products of Dalmatia: from natural history to national economy 3. The character and customs of the Morlacchi: from provincial administration to enlightened anthropology 4. The Morlacchi and the discovery of the Slavs: from national classification to sentimental imagination 5. Public debate after Fortis: Dalmatian dissent and Venetian controversy 6. The end of the Adriatic empire: epidemic, economic, and discursive crises Conclusion and continuities: the legacy of the Venetian enlightenment in Napoleonic Illyria Habsburg Dalmatia, and Yugoslavia.
