Literature and Domestic Travel in Early Modern England
Cambridge University Press, 8/27/2009
EAN 9780521448376, ISBN10: 0521448379
Hardcover, 260 pages, 23.4 x 15.7 x 1.8 cm
Language: English
In the early modern period, the population of England travelled more than is often now thought, by road and by water: from members of the gentry travelling for pleasure, through the activities of those involved in internal trade, to labourers migrating out of necessity. Yet the commonly held view that people should know their places, geographically as well as socially, made domestic travel highly controversial. Andrew McRae examines the meanings of mobility in the early modern period, drawing on sources from canonical literature and travel narratives to a range of historical documents including maps and travel guides. He identifies the relationship between domestic travel and the emergence of vital new models of nationhood and identity. An original contribution to the study of early modern literature as well as travel literature, this interdisciplinary book opens up domestic travel as a vital and previously underexplored area of research.
Introduction
Part I. Routes
1. Rivers
2. Roads
3. Inns and alehouses
Part II. Travellers
4. The progress
royal travellers and common authors
5. Tourism
Celia Fiennes and her context
6. Traffic
John Taylor and his context
Epilogue
Defoe's Tour
Index.