Literature and Domestic Travel in Early Modern England

An interdisciplinary investigation of the modes and meanings of domestic travel and of early modern attitudes to mobility.

Andrew McRae (Author)

9780521448376, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 27 August 2009

260 pages, 9 b/w illus.
23.4 x 15.7 x 1.8 cm, 0.56 kg

'… we must welcome a book that contains such valuable critiques of recent scholarship in economic, tourism, and landscape history, and shows such multidisciplinary engagement with varied sources.' Comparative Studies in Society and History

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mobility in the early modern period, drawing on sources from canonical literature and travel narratives to a range of historical documents including maps and travel guides.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.

Subject Areas: Literary studies: c 1500 to c 1800 [DSBD], Literary studies: classical, early & medieval [DSBB], Literary studies: general [DSB]