Anglo-American Landscapes
A Study of Nineteenth-Century Anglo-American Travel Literature

An examination of the aesthetic values betrayed by the authors of travel books during the nineteenth century.

Christopher Mulvey (Author)

9780521115803, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 23 July 2009

312 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.8 cm, 0.46 kg

During the nineteenth century some hundreds of Englishmen and Americans visited each other's country and then published account of their journeys in the form of travel books. In his examination of the aesthetic values inherent in such books and the national prejudices and preconceptions betrayed by their authors, Christopher Mulvey has written a fascinating and entertaining chapter in nineteenth-century cultural history. The apprehensive Englishmen went to America as to a laboratory in which democracy was under investigation - as if to an England of the future. The sentimental American went to England above all to savour the past: to return to his roots. Their successes and failures in these aims, the extent to which reality matched preconception and the extent to which preconception shaped reality are the subject of this study. In all, the books, letters and journals of some ninety travellers are examined in Anglo-American Landscapes.

List of illustrations and sources
Preface
Introduction
1. Transatlantic eyes
Part I. England: 2. Landfall and landing
3. Chester: the real England
4. The sentiment and poetry of England
5. Stratford-upon-Avon: blessed beyond all other villages
6. Westminster Abbey: the great Valhalla by the Thames
7. England: the aesthetic landscape
Part II. America: 8. Landfall and landing
9. The seaboard cities
10. Picturesque landscapes: New England and the Hudson
11. The falls of Niagara: a dangerous subject
12. The Mississippi: the nightmare landscape
13. America: the statistical landscape
Conclusion: 14. Transatlantic views
Notes
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: Literary studies: c 1800 to c 1900 [DSBF]