It seems like no hero could have been more predestined for an epic than Columbus. And yet, he did not become the focus of epic poetry in France until after 1750. This volume shows how, in this new variation on heroic poetry, familiar ancient and early modern epic motifs interacted with historic events, the fabulous, and contemporary faibles. Columbus was sometimes the emissary of Enlightenment knowledge, sometimes the bearer of Christian values.

Gerd Johann König, Freie Universität Berlin, Germany.