Joshua Barnes FRS (10 January 1654 – 3 August 1712), was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

scholar A scholar is a person who pursues academic and intellectual activities, particularly academics who apply their intellectualism into expertise in an area of study. A scholar can also be an academic, who works as a professor, teacher, or researche ...

. His work ''Gerania; a New Discovery of a Little Sort of People, anciently discoursed of, called Pygmies'' (1675) was an Utopian romance.LeTellier (1997), p. 186.

Life and work

Barnes was born in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, the son of Edward Barnes, a merchant taylor. Educated at

Christ's Hospital Christ's Hospital is a public school (English independent boarding school for pupils aged 11–18) with a royal charter located to the south of Horsham in West Sussex. The school was founded in 1552 and received its first royal charter in 1553 ...

and

Emmanuel College, Cambridge Emmanuel College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1584 by Sir Walter Mildmay, Chancellor of the Exchequer to Elizabeth I. The site on which the college sits was once a priory for Dominican mon ...

, he was chosen in 1695 as Regius Professor of Greek, a language which he wrote and spoke with facility. One of his early publications was ''Gerania; a New Discovery of a Little Sort of People, anciently discoursed of, called Pygmies'' (1675), a whimsical sketch, to which

Swift Swift or SWIFT most commonly refers to: * SWIFT, an international organization facilitating transactions between banks ** SWIFT code * Swift (programming language) * Swift (bird), a family of birds It may also refer to: Organizations * SWIFT, ...

's ''Voyage to Lilliput'' may owe something. Among his other works is a ''History of that Most Victorious Monarch Edward III'' (1688), an epic of over 900 pages, which inserts elaborate speeches into the narrative. He also produced editions of

Euripides Euripides (; grc, Εὐριπίδης, Eurīpídēs, ; ) was a tragedian Tragedy (from the grc-gre, τραγῳδία, ''tragōidia'', ''tragōidia'') is a genre of drama based on human suffering and, mainly, the terrible or sorrowful e ...

(1694),

Homer Homer (; grc, Ὅμηρος , ''Hómēros'') (born ) was a Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Homer is considered one of the ...

(1711), and

Anacreon Anacreon (; grc-gre, Ἀνακρέων ὁ Τήϊος; BC) was a Greek lyric poet, notable for his drinking songs and erotic poems. Later Greeks included him in the canonical list of Nine Lyric Poets. Anacreon wrote all of his poetry in the ...

(1705), of which the last contains titles of Greek verses of his own, which he hoped to publish. He was elected a

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the judges of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...

in November, 1710. Barnes married a widow named Mrs Mafon in 1700. Barnes died on 3 August 1712 at Hemingford, near

St Ives, Huntingdonshire St Ives is a market town and civil parish in the Huntingdonshire district in Cambridgeshire, England, east of Huntingdon and north-west of Cambridge. St Ives is historically in the historic county of Huntingdonshire. History The township ...

where his widow erected a monument to him.

Fiction writer

The present-day scholar Robert Ignatius Letellier considers ''Gerania'', a work of prose fiction, to have been part of an emerging type of

adventure novels An adventure is an exciting experience or undertaking that is typically bold, sometimes risky. Adventures may be activities with danger such as traveling, exploring, skydiving, mountain climbing, scuba diving, river rafting, or other extreme sp ...

, featuring an "imaginary voyage into alien or fictional regions". These combined first-person adventure narratives with either "satirical social observation" or perceptions of ideal human behaviour in remote lands, following a tradition rooted in the ''

Utopia A utopia ( ) typically describes an imaginary community or society that possesses highly desirable or nearly perfect qualities for its members. It was coined by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book ''Utopia (book), Utopia'', describing a fictional ...

'' (1516) of

Thomas More Sir Thomas More (7 February 1478 – 6 July 1535), venerated in the Catholic Church as Saint Thomas More, was an English lawyer, judge, social philosopher, author, statesman, and noted Renaissance humanist. He also served Henry VIII as Lord ...

, which found prominent manifestations in ''

The Blazing World ''The Description of a New World, Called The Blazing-World'', better known as ''The Blazing World'', is a 1666 work of prose fiction by the English writer Margaret Cavendish, the Duchess of Newcastle. Feminist critic Dale Spender calls it a f ...

'' (1666) of

Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle-upon-Tyne Margaret Lucas Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle-upon-Tyne (1623 – 15 December 1673) was an English philosopher, poet, scientist, fiction writer and playwright. Her husband, William Cavendish, 1st Duke of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, was Royalist co ...

and ''

The Isle of Pines ''The Isle of Pines'' is a book by Henry Neville published in 1668. It has been cited as the first robinsonade before Defoe's work. It is also one of the early Utopian narratives, along with Thomas More's Utopia and Francis Bacon's New Atlantis. A ...

'' of

Henry Neville Henry Neville or Nevile may refer to: *Henry Neville (died c.1415), MP for leicestershire (UK Parliament constituency), leicestershire *Henry Neville, 5th Earl of Westmorland (1525–1564), English peer *Henry Neville (Gentleman of the Privy Chamb ...

. The tradition would lead to later works, such as the ''

Robinson Crusoe ''Robinson Crusoe'' () is a novel by Daniel Defoe, first published on 25 April 1719. The first edition credited the work's protagonist Robinson Crusoe as its author, leading many readers to believe he was a real person and the book a tra ...

'' (1719) of

Daniel Defoe Daniel Defoe (; born Daniel Foe; – 24 April 1731) was an English writer, trader, journalist, pamphleteer and spy. He is most famous for his novel ''Robinson Crusoe'', published in 1719, which is claimed to be second only to the Bible in its ...

.LeTellier (1997), Introduction p. xxxiii (33).

References

Sources

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Barnes, Joshua 1654 births 1712 deaths English classical scholars Scholars of ancient Greek literature English male novelists 17th-century English novelists 17th-century English male writers 17th-century English historians People educated at Christ's Hospital Alumni of Emmanuel College, Cambridge Fellows of the Royal Society Regius Professors of Greek (Cambridge) Academics from London People from Hemingford Grey English male non-fiction writers