In Enchanted Islands, renowned art historian Mary D. Sheriff explores the legendary, fictional, and real islands that filled the French imagination during the ancien regime as they appeared in royal ballets and festivals, epic literature, paintings, engravings, book illustrations, and other objects. Some of the islands were mythical and found in the most popular literary texts of the day—islands featured prominently, for instance, in Ariosto’s Orlando furioso,Tasso’s Gerusalemme liberata, and Fénelon’s, Telemachus. Other islands—real ones, such as Tahiti and St. Domingue—the French learned about from the writings of travelers and colonists. All of them were imagined to be the home of enchantresses who used magic to conquer heroes by promising sensual and sexual pleasure. As Sheriff shows, the theme of the enchanted island was put to many uses. Kings deployed enchanted-island mythology to strengthen monarchical authority, as Louis XIV did in his famous Versailles festival Les Plaisirs de l’île enchantée. Writers such as Fénelon used it to tell morality tales that taught virtue, duty, and the need for male strength to triumph over female weakness and seduction. Yet at the same time, artists like Boucher painted enchanted islands to portray art’s purpose as the giving of pleasure. In all these ways and more, Sheriff demonstrates for the first time the centrality of enchanted islands to ancient regime culture in a book that will enchant all readers interested in the art, literature, and history of the time.

Enchanted Islands tells the true story of Laura Coffey's epic journey around the mystical archipelagos of the Mediterranean. Blending memoir, travel and nature writing with tales from The Odyssey, and infused with sharply comic wit, this is a celebration of the redemptive powers of cold-water swimming and luminous star-lit skies.

"Tales of the Enchanted Islands of the Atlantic" by Thomas Wentworth Higginson is a collection of myths, legends, and folktales inspired by the islands of the Atlantic Ocean. Higginson, an American author, historian, and minister, compiled stories from various cultures and traditions surrounding islands such as Atlantis, the Azores, the Canaries, and others. The book delves into the rich tapestry of folklore and mythology associated with these islands, exploring themes of magic, adventure, heroism, and the supernatural. From tales of lost civilizations to encounters with mythical creatures, each story offers a glimpse into the imagination and cultural heritage of the people who inhabited or explored these islands throughout history.

Inspired by the midcentury memoirs of Frances Conway, Enchanted Islands is the dazzling story of an independent American woman whose path takes her far from her native Minnesota when she and her husband, an undercover intelligence officer, are sent to the Galápagos Islands at the brink of World War II. Born in Duluth, Minnesota, in 1882 to immigrant parents, Frances Frankowski covets the life of her best friend, Rosalie Mendel, who has everything Fanny could wish for—money, parents who value education, and an effervescent and winning personality. When, at age fifteen, Rosalie decides they should run away to Chicago, Fanny jumps at the chance to escape her unexceptional life. But, within a year, Rosalie commits an unforgivable betrayal, inciting Frances to strike out on her own. Decades later, the women reconnect in San Francisco and realize how widely their lives have diverged. While Rosalie is a housewife and mother, Frances works as a secretary for the Office of Naval Intelligence. There she is introduced to Ainslie Conway, an intelligence operator ten years her junior. When it’s arranged for Frances and Ainslie to marry and carry out a mission on the Galápagos Islands, the couple’s identities—already hidden from each other—are further buried under their new cover stories. No longer a lonely spinster, Frances is about to begin the most fascinating and intrigue-filled years of her life. Amid active volcanoes, forbidding wildlife and flora, and unfriendly neighbors, Ainslie and Frances carve out a life for themselves. But the secrets they harbor from their enemies and from each other may be their undoing. Drawing on the rich history of the early twentieth century and set against a large, colorful canvas, Enchanted Islands boldly examines the complexity of female friendship, the universal pursuit of a place to call home, and the reverberations of secrets we keep from others and from ourselves.

Reproduction of the original: Tales o9f the Enchanted Islands of the Atlantic by Thomas Wentworth Higginson

These tales have been gathered for more than a thousand years about the islands of the North Atlantic. In all ages and with all sea-going races there has always been something especially fascinating about an island amid the ocean. Its very existence has for all explorers an air of magic. To seafarers an island offers safety after the danger of the open sea. The 20 tales about these enchanted islands of the North Atlantic are: The Story of Atlantis Taliessin of the Radiant Brow The Swan-Children of Lir Usheen in the Island of Youth Bran the Blessed The Castle of the Active Door Merlin the Enchanter Sir Lancelot of the Lake The Half-Man King Arthur at Avalon Maelduin's Voyage The Voyage of St. Brandan Kirwan's Search for Hy-Brasail The Isle of Satan's Hand Antillia, the Island of the Seven Cities Harald the Viking The Search for Norumbega The Guardians of the St. Lawrence The Island of Demons Bimini and the Fountain of Youth Once you set foot on such an island and you can begin to understand the legends of enchantment which the ages have collected around such spots. Climb to the heights of Glastonbury Tor and gaze westwards, and you look out over the Bristol Channel, you can imagine yourself to be at the masthead of some lonely vessel, kept forever at sea. You feel as if no one but yourself has ever landed there; and yet, perhaps, even there, looking straight downward, you can imagine you see below you in some crevice of the rock, a mast or spar of some wrecked vessel, encrusted with all manner of shells and barnacles. So, we invite you to curl up with these ancient legends not seen in print for many-a-year; and immerse yourself in the tales and fables of yesteryear. YEATERDAY'S BOOKS for TODAY'S CHARITIES ---------------------------- TAGS: fairy tales, folklore, myths, legends, children’s stories, children’s stories, bygone era, fairydom, fairy land, classic stories, children’s bedtime stories, fables, Story of Atlantis, Taliessin, Radiant Brow, Swan-Children, Lir, Usheen, Oisin, Island of Youth, Bran the Blessed, Castle, Active Door, Merlin, Enchanter, Enchanted, North, Atlantic, Sir Lancelot, Lake, Half-Man, King Arthur, Avalon, Glastonbury tor, Maelduin's Voyage, St. Brandan, St. Brendan, Kirwan's Search, Hy-Brasail, Isle, Satan's Hand, Antillia, Island of Seven Cities, Harald, Viking, Norumbega, Guardians, St. Lawrence, Island of Demons, Bimini, Fountain of Youth

The history of the Galapagos Islands from Inca times, which presents a cast of conquistadors, buccaneers, pirates, Robinson Crusoes and Swiss Family Robinsons; as well as eccentric explorers, hopeful colonists and naturalists, including the most famous of all - Charles Darwin.