Visions of Persia

This work examines the travel account of a German baroque author who journeyed in search of silk from Northern Germany, through Muscovy, to the court of Shah Safi in Isfahan. Adam Olearius introduced Persian literature, history, and arts to the German-speaking public; his frank appraisal of Persian customs foreshadows the enlightened spirit of the eighteenth century (influencing Montesquieus Persian Letters as well as Goethes West-Eastern Divan) and prepares the way for German Romanticisms infatuation with Persian poetry. Elio Brancaforte focuses on the visual and discursive nexus uniting Oleariuss text with the numerous engravings that supplement the book. The emphasis falls on contextualized readings of Oleariuss decorative frontispieces and his new and improved map of Persia and the Caspian Sea, as expressions of early modern subjectivity.