John Bull and the Continent

The figure of John Bull stereotypically personifies the best and the worst traits of the British (or English) national character. The perspectives adopted in John Bull and the Continent extend the meaning of the metaphor and take the eponymous juxtaposition as an incentive to study the variety of multi-faceted relationships between the two sides.

Ever since John Arbuthnot published The History of John Bull in 1712, the figure of John Bull has stereotypically personified the best and the worst traits of the British (or English) national character. The present work takes the eponymous juxtaposition as an incentive to study the variety of multi-faceted contacts between the two sides. Given the recent attempts at a re-definition of the relationship between Britain and the Continent best visible in the turmoil over Britain's EU membership the results of the research will hopefully stimulate discussion about John Bull's ever-changing presence within or without the Continent.

Autorentext

Wojciech Jasiakiewicz is Associate Professor at Kazimierz Wielki University in Bydgoszcz (Poland). He has written a monograph on British travel accounts of Poland.
Jakub Lipski is Assistant Professor at Kazimierz Wielki University. His research concerns the eighteenth-century novel and culture, particularly the works of Henry Fielding, Tobias Smollett, Laurence Sterne and Ann Radcliffe.

Inhalt
Contents: Wojciech Jasiakiewicz: Henry VIII and the Polish question Magorzata Rutkowska: «Strangely unknown in England»: Poland in nineteenth-and early twentieth-century British travel accounts Magdalena Oarska: Austenian inspirations for Maria Wirtemberska's «Original Romance»: Malvina, or the Heart's Intuition (1816) Miosz K. Cybowski: First and last refuge: France and Britain as centres of the Polish Great Emigration Micha Borodo: Billy and Casp: Rediscovering forgotten translations in Polish-English cultural exchanges Tomasz Niedokos: Close encounters with John Bull: Polish narratives of disappointment with England Douglas Root: Samuel Johnson and Voltaire's «Petty Cavils» on English literature Krystyna Urbisz Golkowska: Identity renegotiation in Charlote Brontë's Villette Dariusz Pestka: The influence of continental symbolism, impressionism and post-impressionism on British writers and painters Adam Aleksandrowicz: Crossing the Channel with Julian Barnes: A brief (hi)story of fulfilment, misapprehension and disillusionment Maciej Wieczorek: Living through the benign nightmares? (Re)contextualising in-yer-face theatre Stephen Dewsbury: Two world wars and one World Cup: Attitudes and expressions to «the Continent» in John King's England Away Jakub Lipski: Radcliffe's capricci: The prisons of the Inquisition in The Italian Daniel Evers: «My heart is sore / For my own land's sins»: Elizabeth Barrett Browning's relationship with Italy.