Women, Literature, and the Domesticated Landscape: England's Disciples of Flora, 1780-1870

Combining an analysis of literature and art, this book contends that the 'domesticated landscape' is key to understanding women's complex negotiation of private and public life in a period of revolution and transition. As more women became engaged in horticultural and botanical pursuits, the meaning of gardens - recognized here both as sites of pleasure and labor, and as conceptual and symbolic spaces - became more complex. Women writers and artists often used gardens to educate their readers, to enter into political and cultural debates, and to signal moments of intellectual and spiritual insight. Gardens functioned as a protected vantage point for women, providing them with a new language and authority to negotiate between domestic space and the larger world. Although this more expansive form of domesticity still highlighted the virtues associated with the feminized home, it also promised a wider field of action, re-centering domesticity outward.

Author: Judith W. Page, Elise L. Smith
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 03/27/2014
Pages: 338
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 1.19lbs
Size: 9.61h x 6.69w x 0.70d
ISBN: 9781107420236

About the Author
Page, Judith W.: - Judith W. Page is Professor of English and Waldo W. Neikirk Term Professor of Arts and Sciences at the University of Florida, where she also serves as Interim Director of the Center for Women's Studies and Gender Research.Smith, Elise L.: - Elise L. Smith is Professor of Art History and Sanderson Chair in Arts and Sciences at Millsaps College, Mississippi.

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