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building the american landscape - Univerza v Novi Gorici

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Nature, agriculture and <strong>the</strong> language of “freedom”<br />

We hold <strong>the</strong>se truths to be self‐evident, that all<br />

men are created equal, that <strong>the</strong>y are endowed<br />

by <strong>the</strong>ir Creator with certain unalienable Rights,<br />

that among <strong>the</strong>se are Life, Liberty, and <strong>the</strong><br />

pursuit of Happiness. 7<br />

Benjamin Franklin (1706‐1790), a protagonist in <strong>the</strong> years of <strong>the</strong> Revolution (1775‐<br />

1783), was one of <strong>the</strong> first Americans to be widely known in Europe.<br />

He lived in London as <strong>the</strong> representative of <strong>the</strong> colonies, in Paris as an American<br />

plenipotentiary minister; his affable, sincere manners and his genius made him<br />

immediately popular.<br />

He was to ironically nourish certain aspects of <strong>the</strong> mythology of American nature,<br />

making fun of his interlocutors, whilst at <strong>the</strong> same time favouring an exotic idea of<br />

<strong>the</strong> colonies. In 1765 in <strong>the</strong> London pages of The Public Advertiser 8 he was to<br />

reassure English readers, flaunting a certain humour, about improbable news<br />

coming from America: not simple literary inventions, but “one of <strong>the</strong> finest<br />

Spectacles in Nature”, alluding to <strong>the</strong> jumping whales and to cod hunting in <strong>the</strong><br />

Niagara Falls. In 1773, <strong>the</strong> naturalist William Bartram (1739‐1823) started a long<br />

voyage in <strong>the</strong> Sou<strong>the</strong>rn colonies, which lasted four years, and his discoveries and<br />

adventures are recorded in his book Travels Through North & South Carolina,<br />

Georgia, East & West Florida, <strong>the</strong> Cherokee Country, <strong>the</strong> Extensive Territories of <strong>the</strong><br />

Muscogulges, or Creek Confederacy, and <strong>the</strong> Country of <strong>the</strong> Chactaws. Containing<br />

an Account of <strong>the</strong> Soil and Natural Productions of Those Regions; Toge<strong>the</strong>r with<br />

Observations on <strong>the</strong> Manners of <strong>the</strong> Indians (1791).<br />

The publication (1791) is a botanical report, and at <strong>the</strong> same time one of <strong>the</strong> first<br />

contributions by American literature to <strong>the</strong> description of luxuriant sceneries,<br />

picturesque <strong>landscape</strong>s, ferocious animals and Native Americans intent on<br />

contemplating nature. The <strong>the</strong>me of <strong>the</strong> Native inhabitants was also dealt with by<br />

7 Second sentence of <strong>the</strong> United States Declaration of Independence (1776)<br />

8 FRANKLIN, Benjamin , “The Grand Leap of <strong>the</strong> Whale”, The Public Advertiser, May 22, 1765<br />

14

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