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'There is probably no single quality or characteristic - besides
love of the countryside - that must inevitably distinguish a rural
writer, ' notes W.J. Keith. However, 'what distinguishes rural
writing that belongs to literature from that belonging to natural
history, agricultural history, etc., is, as Richard E. Haymaker has
observed, the writer's "means of revealing Nature as well as
describing her"...In the final analysis the rural essayist paints
neither landscapes nor self-portraits; instead he communicates the
subtle relationship between himself and his environment, offering
for our inspection his own attitudes and his own vision. We may be
asked to look or to agree, but more than anything else we are
invited to share. Ultimately, then, the best rural writing may be
said to provide us, in a phrase adapted from Robert Langbaum, with
a prose of experience.' Keith argues that non-fiction rural prose
should be recognized as a distinct literary tradition that merits
serious critical attention. In this book he tests the cogency of
thinking in terms of a 'rural tradition, ' examines the critical
problems inherent in such writing, and traces significant
continuities between rural writers. Eleven of the more important
and influential writers from the seventeenth century to modern
times come under individual scrutiny: Izaak Walton, Gilbert White,
William Cobbett, Mary Russell Mitford, George Borrow, Richard
Jefferies, George Sturt/'George Bourne', W.H. Hudson, Edward Thomas
Williamson, and H.J. Massingham. In examining these writers within
the context of the rural tradition, Keith rescues their works from
the literary attic where they have too often been relegated as
awkward misfits. When studied together, each throws fascinating
light on the others and is seen to fit into a loose but nonetheless
discernible 'line.'
This book, a critical study of the essays and novels of Richard
Jefferies, an English writer of the latter part of the nineteenth
century, is an attempt to define the nature of Jefferies'
contribution to English literature, and to isolate the more
important and effective qualities of his work. Although he was not
a major figure in English letteres, Jefferies was highly regarded
for his essays on nature and the English countryside, studies of
rural conditions, and regional novels; his work mirrors the rapid
change taking place in agriculture at the time, and is of interest
today to social historians and economists. This study begins with a
brief biological account, and then proceeds to a discussion of
individual works. An important feature is a comprehensive
bibliography of Jefferies' books and pamphlets, arranged in order
of publication to assist the readers in checking chronology.
(Department of English Studies and Texts, No. 13)
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