place
Java
also: Jáva
The island of Java in the Dutch East Indies (modern Indonesia), with its extraordinary tropical biodiversity and the legendary poison valley Gurvo-Upas; Madách's Java setting in 'Ecce Homo' draws on Romantic travel and natural-history writing about the island's extreme, untamed nature.
Reading notes
- Tales (Five Stories) §4 banyan forest
The banyan (Ficus benghalensis) is a tropical fig-tree whose branches drop aerial roots to the ground, forming vast, labyrinthine secondary trunks; Madách's description of Java's jungle is drawn from contemporary natural-history writing and travel literature rather than direct observation.