Far-Fetched Facts

Far-Fetched Facts is a fascinating essay in the history of travel literature, both real and imaginary, from classical times, via early accounts of the New World, to the accounts of the South Sea islands that lay beyond. Neil Rennie's study traces continuities from the Odyssey to the twentieth century and stresses the interplay of fact and fiction in a literature with a notorious tendency to deviate from the truth. The study includes a fully sourced account of the mutiny on the Bounty, together with discussions of Cook, Bougainville, Defoe, Swift, Byron, Melville, Loti, and Stevenson.