Abstrakt
In the conference paper the partial results of the author's doctoral research are presented. Her main research interest is the problem of Central Eastern European cultural otherness as reflected in early modern Western – precisely English - travel writing.
The principal question is if any coherent whole, in cultural terms, was distinguished by the early modern English travellers in the area. That is, in what terms was this territory depicted on their mental maps.
The research is inspired by the work of Larry Wolff who identified the division of Europe in the West and the East as the intellectual invention of Enlightenment. The paper is based on textual analysis of selected travel writings showing cultural frontiers recorded by travellers, such as the frontiers of the known and of the educated Europe, and the frontiers of convenience.
The main argument is that Central Eastern Europe was regarded as uninteresting and therefore untravelled periphery of Europe.