Englishness Identified

Inbunden, Engelska, 2000

AvPaul Langford

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In the 17th century the English were often depicted as a nation of barbarians, fanatics, and king-killers. Two hundred years later they were more likely to be seen as the triumphant possessors of a unique political stability, a vigorous industrial revolution, and a world-wide empire. These may have been British achievements; but the virtues which brought about this transformation were perceived as being specifically English. Ideas of what constituted Englishness changed from a stock notion of waywardness and unpredictability to one of discipline and dedication. The evolution of the so-called national character once more the subject of scrutiny and debate is traced through the impressions and analyses of foreign observers, and related to English ambitions and anxieties during a period of intense change.

Produktinformation

Utgivningsdatum2000-06-01
FormatInbunden
SpråkEngelska
FörlagOxford University Press
ISBN9780198206811

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Introduction: Englishness. Part 1: energy - Industry - locomotion - physicality - melancholy - gravity - order - practicality. Part 2: candour - plainness - openness - separateness - domesticity - honesty - humbug. Part 3: decency - barbarity - fair play - propriety - modesty. Part 4: taciturnity - silence - conversation - oratory - clubbability. Part 5: reserve - xenophobia - hospitality - familiarity - intimacy - exclusiveness. Part 6: eccentricity - liberty - informality - originality - character - eccentrics. Conclusion: manners and character.

This wonderful book brings such detail and generalisation together by being organised not chronologically but by 'six major supposed traits of Englishness': Energy, Candour, Decency, Taciturnity, Reserve, Eccentricity. Langford has read widely and unpredictably, especially in accounts that have never been translated into English. This has allowed him to produce a book that is, in one respect, brilliantly un-English: it is fascinated by what foreigners have thought. The Guardian In a well-written, attractive and handsome book, Langford makes careful and appropriate use of travel literature by foreigners in order to provide a fascinating account of developments in the understanding of the national character of the English, a country of 'twenty-four religions and only one sauce' HISTORY A fascinating topic, ably covered HISTORY