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‘Representing Wales as Utopia in the eighteenth-century novel’

Caroline Franklin Orcid Logo

Footsteps of Liberty and Revolt: Essays on Wales and the French Revolution, Pages: 11 - 35

Swansea University Author: Caroline Franklin Orcid Logo

Abstract

This essay argues that in eighteenth-century fiction the principality without a metropolis embodied the pun in More's concept of a place which functioned as ideal yet nowhere: the tabula rasa where a blueprint for a new society could be imagined. It is well-known that Wales often featured in ei...

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Published in: Footsteps of Liberty and Revolt: Essays on Wales and the French Revolution
Published: Cardiff University of Wales Press 2013
URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa330
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fullrecord <?xml version="1.0"?><rfc1807><datestamp>2013-10-15T17:27:06.1030369</datestamp><bib-version>v2</bib-version><id>330</id><entry>2011-10-01</entry><title>&#x2018;Representing Wales as Utopia in the eighteenth-century novel&#x2019;</title><swanseaauthors><author><sid>173cbc669e8031bf38c1c0498e060dbf</sid><ORCID>0000-0001-6545-4984</ORCID><firstname>Caroline</firstname><surname>Franklin</surname><name>Caroline Franklin</name><active>true</active><ethesisStudent>false</ethesisStudent></author></swanseaauthors><date>2011-10-01</date><deptcode>FGHSS</deptcode><abstract>This essay argues that in eighteenth-century fiction the principality without a metropolis embodied the pun in More's concept of a place which functioned as ideal yet nowhere: the tabula rasa where a blueprint for a new society could be imagined. It is well-known that Wales often featured in eighteenth-century fiction, but this essay argues that the ubiquity of picturesque tours and the propensity of sentimentalism towards romantic primitivism were not the only explanations. Wales was also a premier site of technical and industrial innovation in the 1780s: a wilderness about to be transformed by modernity either for good or bad. Novels by Robert Bage, William Godwin, Anna Maria Bennett and Charlotte Smith used Welsh settings and characters specifically to debate the aesthetic and social questions posed by exploitation by outsiders of another culture and way of life. Wales would also be the prototype for the future of entrepreneurs and socal projectors. It was all potentiality as the empty land at the heart of Britain: west of England, south of Scotland, and east of Ireland. Historical romance like Godwin's Imogen idealized the egalitarian way of life of the ancient Britons now under threat, while courtship novels of the present day represented Wales as a vulnerable orphan girl deprived of autonomy or inheritance.</abstract><type>Book chapter</type><journal>Footsteps of Liberty and Revolt: Essays on Wales and the French Revolution</journal><volume></volume><journalNumber></journalNumber><paginationStart>11</paginationStart><paginationEnd>35</paginationEnd><publisher>University of Wales Press</publisher><placeOfPublication>Cardiff</placeOfPublication><issnPrint/><issnElectronic/><keywords>Utopia, Wales, eighteenth-century, fiction, novels</keywords><publishedDay>31</publishedDay><publishedMonth>12</publishedMonth><publishedYear>2013</publishedYear><publishedDate>2013-12-31</publishedDate><doi/><url/><notes/><college>COLLEGE NANME</college><department>Humanities and Social Sciences - Faculty</department><CollegeCode>COLLEGE CODE</CollegeCode><DepartmentCode>FGHSS</DepartmentCode><institution>Swansea University</institution><apcterm/><lastEdited>2013-10-15T17:27:06.1030369</lastEdited><Created>2011-10-01T00:00:00.0000000</Created><path><level id="1">Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences</level><level id="2">School of Culture and Communication - English Language, Tesol, Applied Linguistics</level></path><authors><author><firstname>Caroline</firstname><surname>Franklin</surname><orcid>0000-0001-6545-4984</orcid><order>1</order></author></authors><documents/><OutputDurs/></rfc1807>
spelling 2013-10-15T17:27:06.1030369 v2 330 2011-10-01 ‘Representing Wales as Utopia in the eighteenth-century novel’ 173cbc669e8031bf38c1c0498e060dbf 0000-0001-6545-4984 Caroline Franklin Caroline Franklin true false 2011-10-01 FGHSS This essay argues that in eighteenth-century fiction the principality without a metropolis embodied the pun in More's concept of a place which functioned as ideal yet nowhere: the tabula rasa where a blueprint for a new society could be imagined. It is well-known that Wales often featured in eighteenth-century fiction, but this essay argues that the ubiquity of picturesque tours and the propensity of sentimentalism towards romantic primitivism were not the only explanations. Wales was also a premier site of technical and industrial innovation in the 1780s: a wilderness about to be transformed by modernity either for good or bad. Novels by Robert Bage, William Godwin, Anna Maria Bennett and Charlotte Smith used Welsh settings and characters specifically to debate the aesthetic and social questions posed by exploitation by outsiders of another culture and way of life. Wales would also be the prototype for the future of entrepreneurs and socal projectors. It was all potentiality as the empty land at the heart of Britain: west of England, south of Scotland, and east of Ireland. Historical romance like Godwin's Imogen idealized the egalitarian way of life of the ancient Britons now under threat, while courtship novels of the present day represented Wales as a vulnerable orphan girl deprived of autonomy or inheritance. Book chapter Footsteps of Liberty and Revolt: Essays on Wales and the French Revolution 11 35 University of Wales Press Cardiff Utopia, Wales, eighteenth-century, fiction, novels 31 12 2013 2013-12-31 COLLEGE NANME Humanities and Social Sciences - Faculty COLLEGE CODE FGHSS Swansea University 2013-10-15T17:27:06.1030369 2011-10-01T00:00:00.0000000 Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences School of Culture and Communication - English Language, Tesol, Applied Linguistics Caroline Franklin 0000-0001-6545-4984 1
title ‘Representing Wales as Utopia in the eighteenth-century novel’
spellingShingle ‘Representing Wales as Utopia in the eighteenth-century novel’
Caroline Franklin
title_short ‘Representing Wales as Utopia in the eighteenth-century novel’
title_full ‘Representing Wales as Utopia in the eighteenth-century novel’
title_fullStr ‘Representing Wales as Utopia in the eighteenth-century novel’
title_full_unstemmed ‘Representing Wales as Utopia in the eighteenth-century novel’
title_sort ‘Representing Wales as Utopia in the eighteenth-century novel’
author_id_str_mv 173cbc669e8031bf38c1c0498e060dbf
author_id_fullname_str_mv 173cbc669e8031bf38c1c0498e060dbf_***_Caroline Franklin
author Caroline Franklin
author2 Caroline Franklin
format Book chapter
container_title Footsteps of Liberty and Revolt: Essays on Wales and the French Revolution
container_start_page 11
publishDate 2013
institution Swansea University
publisher University of Wales Press
college_str Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
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hierarchy_top_id facultyofhumanitiesandsocialsciences
hierarchy_top_title Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
hierarchy_parent_id facultyofhumanitiesandsocialsciences
hierarchy_parent_title Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
department_str School of Culture and Communication - English Language, Tesol, Applied Linguistics{{{_:::_}}}Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences{{{_:::_}}}School of Culture and Communication - English Language, Tesol, Applied Linguistics
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description This essay argues that in eighteenth-century fiction the principality without a metropolis embodied the pun in More's concept of a place which functioned as ideal yet nowhere: the tabula rasa where a blueprint for a new society could be imagined. It is well-known that Wales often featured in eighteenth-century fiction, but this essay argues that the ubiquity of picturesque tours and the propensity of sentimentalism towards romantic primitivism were not the only explanations. Wales was also a premier site of technical and industrial innovation in the 1780s: a wilderness about to be transformed by modernity either for good or bad. Novels by Robert Bage, William Godwin, Anna Maria Bennett and Charlotte Smith used Welsh settings and characters specifically to debate the aesthetic and social questions posed by exploitation by outsiders of another culture and way of life. Wales would also be the prototype for the future of entrepreneurs and socal projectors. It was all potentiality as the empty land at the heart of Britain: west of England, south of Scotland, and east of Ireland. Historical romance like Godwin's Imogen idealized the egalitarian way of life of the ancient Britons now under threat, while courtship novels of the present day represented Wales as a vulnerable orphan girl deprived of autonomy or inheritance.
published_date 2013-12-31T03:03:03Z
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