The Fiction and Reality of Jan Struys - by K Boterbloem (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Dutch Sailmaker and sailor Jan Struys' (c.1629-c.1694) account of his various overseas travels became a bestseller after its first publication in Amsterdam in 1676, and was later translated into English, French, German and Russian. This new book depicts the story of its author's life as well as the first singular analysis of the Struys text.

Review Quotes

'Joins the best traditions of archival detective work with the latest in cultural studies to show who generated this seventeenth-century survey of the "Other" and how this work anticipated modernity - in its Orientalist "gaze" as well as in its capitalist inspirations. This combination makes The Fiction and Reality of Jan Struys a significant achievement not only to studies of early modern Russia, but also to the history of modernity and Europe's encounter with the non-Christian world.' - Daniel H. Kaiser, Grinnell College Grinnell, USA

'We should thank Kees for telling us the tale in this fascinating account.' Marshall Poe, New Books In History

About the Author

KEES BOTERBLOEM is a graduate of the University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands and McGill University, and teaches Early Modern and Modern European History at the University of South Florida in Tampa, USA. He is the author of Life and Death under Stalin (1999) and The Life and Times of Andrei Zhdanov (2004).