Worse Than Beasts: An Anatomy of Melancholy and the Literature of Travel in 17th and 18th Century England (Contexts and Consequences)

From 1500 to 1700, the English encountered the people of five continents, who were similarly portrayed in English travel literature. This monograph explores the derogatory aspect of these portrayals. Discussion begins with the coincidence of images of non-Europeans and madmen in Gulliver's Travels, which is an entrée to exploring an association between madness and foreigners in the English imagination. Gulliver's Travels and Robert Burton's Anatomy of Melancholy (1631) provide the foundation for discussion.