European Travels
It was around three months after this first encounter with Johnson that Boswell departed for Europe with the initial goal of continuing his law studies at Utrecht University. He spent a year there and although desperately unhappy the first few months, eventually quite enjoyed his time in Utrecht. He befriended and fell in love with Isabelle de Charrière, also known as Belle van Zuylen, a vivacious young Dutchwoman of unorthodox opinions, his social and intellectual superior. Boswell admired the young widow Geelvinck who refused to marry him. After this, Boswell spent most of the next two years travelling around the continent. During this time he met Jean-Jacques Rousseau and made a pilgrimage to Rome. Boswell also travelled to Corsica to meet one of his heroes, the independence leader Pasquale Paoli. His well-observed diaries and correspondence of this time have been compiled into two books Boswell in Holland and Boswell on the Grand Tour.
Read more about this topic: James Boswell
Famous quotes containing the words european and/or travels:
“European society has always been divided into classes in a way that American society never has been. A European writer considers himself to be part of an old and honorable traditionof intellectual activity, of lettersand his choice of a vocation does not cause him any uneasy wonder as to whether or not it will cost him all his friends. But this tradition does not exist in America.”
—James Baldwin (19241987)
“... forgotten signs
all bringing the souls travels to a place
of origin, a well
under the lake where the Muse moves.”
—Denise Levertov (b. 1923)