Raleigh’s Lost New World
ACMRS Distinguished Lecture in Renaissance Studies
Presented by Paul R. Sellin
Distinguished Research Professor at UCLA
6:00-6:30pm – Refreshments served
6:30-7:30pm – Lecture
7:30-8:00pm – Q&A
Sir Walter Raleigh, Elizabethan courtier, and gentleman privateer had commissioned in 1598 the Dutch translation of his Discoverie of Guiana, which would become one of the seminal texts of the Age of Exploration. Along with that Raleigh also commissioned Lawrence Keymis’ Second Voyage to Guiana; together these writings constitute an invaluable contribution to the nascent literature about the Americas. Later images, along with Raleigh and Keymis’ words, actually arose from the Waerachtighe ende grondighe beschryvinge van Guiana, the grand double edition of the two previous works. Who was the engraver of that later double edition? Why was his influence so great? Professor Paul Sellin, Distinguished Research Professor at UCLA, will analyze these visual artifacts and their significance in a larger historical context.
About Paul R. Sellin
As Distinguished Research Professor at UCLA and oud-hoogleraar, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, Paul R. Sellin has published extensively on Neo-Latin criticism, Anglo-Dutch relations, English literature from Shakespeare through Milton, and Anglican and Reformed theology from the reign of Queen Elizabeth to the Restoration. Current research centers on John Milton, Lieuwe van Aitzema, and Alexandre Morus; the ancestral title of Michel Le Blon; Daniel Heinsius’ poemata on Ghent and Geraardsbergen; and the importance of Sir Walter Raleigh’s Dutch translation of his Discoverie of Guiana.