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Freitag, Barbara, Hy Brasil: the metamorphosis of an island, from cartographic error to Celtic elysium, Textxet Studies in Comparative Literature, 5.69, Amsterdam, New York: Rodopi, 2013. xii + 343 pp + ill..

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Citation details
Contributors
Work
Hy Brasil: the metamorphosis of an island, from cartographic error to Celtic elysium
Place
Amsterdam • New York
Publisher
Rodopi
Year
2013
Series
Number of pages
xii + 343 + ill.
BibTeX
Description
Abstract (cited)
Brasil Island, better known as Hy Brasil, is a phantom island. In the fourteenth century Mediterranean mapmakers marked it on nautical charts to the west of Ireland, and its continued presence on maps over the next six hundred years inspired enterprising seafarers to sail across the Atlantic in search of it. Writers, too, fell for its lure. While English writers envisioned the island as a place of commercial and colonial interest, artists and poets in Ireland fashioned it into a fairyland of Celtic lore. This pioneering study first traces the cartographic history of Brasil Island and examines its impact on English maritime exploration and literature. It investigates the Gaelicization process that the island underwent in nineteenth century and how it became associated with St Brendan. Finally, it pursues the Brasil Island trope in modern literature, the arts and popular culture.
Subjects and topics
Headings
cartography Ireland 14th century 17th century 18th century 19th century
History, society and culture
Agents
Brénainn of ClonfertBrénainn of Clonfert
(d. 577)
Brénainn mac Findloga
Brénainn (Brenden; Brendan) mac Findloga, early Connacht saint, patron of Clonfert, and legendary voyager
See more
Places
Keywords
islands colonialism fictional places
Contents; Acknowledgements; List of images; Preface
[Part 1: The cartographic history of Brasil Island] “1. Mediterranean mapping and naming”
3
[Part 2: Anglicization] “2. The Bristol voyages and King Arthur on Brasil Island”
33
[Part 3: Brasil Island in Irish folklore] “3. Oral lore”
55
[Part 4: Brasil Island in literature and legend: the older tradition] “4. Gaelic Otherworlds”
89
[Part 4: Brasil Island in literature and legend: the older tradition] “5. Clerical sea voyages and St Brendan’s visit to Brasil Island”
107
[Part 4: Brasil Island in literature and legend: the older tradition] “6. Seventeenth- and eighteenth-century English travellers’ tales”
131
[Part 4: Brasil Island in literature and legend: the older tradition] “7. An aborted Irish attempt to write about the island”
159
[Part 4: Brasil Island in literature and legend: the older tradition] “8. The vision of Ulster: Brasil Island and national identity”
167
[Part 5: Gaelicization] “9. ‘Hy Brasil: paradise of the pagan Irish’ in modern literature and the arts”
215
[Part 5: Gaelicization] “10. From high art to popular culture: Hy Brasil’s broad appeal”
245
“Conclusion”
261
[Appendix] “Cartographic appearances of Brasil Island”
265
Bibliography; Index
web page identifiers
Contributors
C. A., Dennis Groenewegen
Page created
June 2013, last updated: September 2021
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