Marvels of the Levant: Print Media and the Politics of Wonder in Early Modern Venice

Abstract

This article uses the strange and marvellous as a heuristic device to study the relationship between emotions, media and politics in early modern Venice. In particular, it examines how printed news about the marvels of the Levant mediated Venice’s encounters with its colonial subjects and imperial rivals, and analyses the role of wonder and imagination in the creation of an imperial community of feelings. The article argues that a focus on the affective politics of the marvellous can shed new light on the emotional dimensions of the early modern Venetian public sphere and its links with war and empire-building.