5 h 25 minAudiobook8 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if your guide through Europe is a liar, a cheat, and the funniest man in the camp?
Jack Wilton wants money, fun, and a way out of trouble. A young English page in Henry VIII’s army, he starts in a camp in France, proud of his tricks and quick tongue. In Thomas Nashe’s The Unfortunate Traveller, he tells his own story—and gives you every reason to question what he says.
Jack’s travels take him through the Low Countries and Germany, then south to Italy with the Earl of Surrey, a poet devoted to his lady Geraldine. Along the way, Nashe mocks soldiers, scholars, preachers, and poets. The jokes are bawdy, the pace is restless, and beneath the laughter lies a world capable of sudden cruelty.
What you’ll discover
- A rogue at the reins Meet a narrator who boasts, interrupts himself, and makes every claim worth questioning.
- Europe beyond the war camp Follow Jack through learned towns, religious upheaval, and the beauty and danger of Italy.
- Wit with sharp teeth Watch Nashe strip away the brave, wise, learned, and holy poses people adopt.
- Laughter close to danger Feel the uneasy shift as comic adventures brush against violence and real cruelty.
- An early roguish adventure Explore a tale many critics call the first English novel of roguish adventure.
Is it for you?
This book suits readers who like sharp wit, historical colour and rule-breaking narrators, and anyone curious about where the English novel began. If you want smooth plotting or gentle characters, you may find its jumps and its cruelty hard going.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A page who lives by his wits
- Jack leaves war for wider Europe
- Surrey, Italy and a master swapped
- Rome turns the comedy dark
- What the book is really about
- How Nashe tells it
Who’s who
- Jack WiltonA quick-witted English page who tells the story. He loves tricks and talk, and wants money, fun and a way out of trouble.
- The Earl of SurreyA real English nobleman and poet who travels with Jack. He is courtly and romantic, and he wants to honour his lady Geraldine.
- GeraldineThe lady whom Surrey loves and admires. She is the reason for his journey to Italy.
- Pietro AretinoA sharp-tongued Italian writer in Venice who helps Jack when the young Englishman runs into danger.
- John of LeidenThe prophet-king of the Anabaptists at Münster, who rules the city with fanatical zeal and brings terror to those around him.
- Esdras of GranadoA criminal in Rome who plays a sinister role in the violent attack on the Roman wife.
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- Large-print eBook
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- Audiobook
- 5 h 25 min, complete, read by Lucas Linden.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 8 minutes, to read or to hear.
- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Hardcover
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print paperback
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print hardcover
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
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Il viaggiatore sfortunato, ovvero Vita di Jack Wilton
by Thomas Nashe· 1594
A dishonest young page travels through a violent Europe.
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Language: Italiano
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1 of 6
A page who lives by his wits
The story opens in the army of Henry VIII, camped in France. Jack Wilton is a page, which means a young servant, and he is proud of being the cleverest trickster in the camp. He says so himself, in a voice that boasts, jokes and wanders. Nashe makes clear at once that this narrator is no hero, and that he knows it.
Jack's first tricks are small but nasty. He targets a cider seller who has grown rich from the soldiers, and he plays on the man's fear until the poor fellow is ruined. Jack tells a captain a tale that makes the merchant look like a spy. The scene shows how Jack thinks. Everyone is a fool, and a fool's money is there to be taken.
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The author
Thomas Nashe
1567–1601 · English Elizabethan pamphleteer and poet
English Elizabethan pamphleteer and poet.
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Questions about Il viaggiatore sfortunato, ovvero Vita di Jack Wilton
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What is The Unfortunate Traveller about?
It follows Jack Wilton, a young English page and trickster, as he moves from Henry VIII's army in France through Germany, Venice and Rome. He meets real historical figures and suffers shocking events along the way.
Is The Unfortunate Traveller a true story?
No. Nashe published it in 1594 as fiction. Real people and places such as Surrey, Erasmus, Thomas More and Münster appear, but most of the events and the hero Jack Wilton are invented.
Why is it called the first English novel?
Critics give it that title because it is a long prose story with a single named narrator, an episodic plot and lively realistic detail. It borrows from the Spanish rogue tale and was new for English readers.
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