A Topography of Contrasts. Romania in 1877 through the Eyes of an English Journalist
A Topography of Contrasts. Romania in 1877 through the Eyes of an English Journalist

Summary/Abstract: Frederick Boyle was an English newspaper correspondent in the Russo Turkish War, who witnessed the entry of the Russian army in Romania in 1877 and provided exhaustive accounts of this country, of its society, lifestyle, politics, and economy. The traveller’s professional background influences his cognitive cartography shaped by a scrutinizing view, hungry for unusual details. The writer tends to generalize, to establish stereotypes, to use superlative structures, to exaggerate, and to highlight the contradictions in order to entertain the readers and to enhance the sensationalism of his report. This article points out that the dichotomous construct of the Romanian space, with rough edges and painful antinomies, accumulates a series of contrasts which are highly augmented through the journalistic lenses.

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