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Public Parks and Private Ideologies: Building Nineteenth-Century British University of Arkansas, Fayetteville ScholarWorks@UARK Theses and Dissertations 5-2012 Public Parks and Private Ideologies: Building Nineteenth-Century British National Identity Through Landscape Laura Swaim Witherington University of Arkansas, Fayetteville Follow this and additional works at: http://scholarworks.uark.edu/etd Part of the Landscape Architecture Commons, and the Literature in English, British Isles Commons Recommended Citation Witherington, Laura Swaim, "Public Parks and Private Ideologies: Building Nineteenth-Century British National Identity Through Landscape" (2012). Theses and Dissertations. 418. http://scholarworks.uark.edu/etd/418 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by ScholarWorks@UARK. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks@UARK. For more information, please contact [email protected], [email protected]. PUBLIC PARKS AND PRIVATE IDEOLOGIES: BUILDING NINETEENTH-CENTURY NATIONAL IDENTITY THROUGH LANDSCAPE PUBLIC PARKS AND PRIVATE IDEOLOGIES: BUILDING NINETEENTH-CENTURY NATIONAL IDENTITY THROUGH LANDSCAPE A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in English By Laura S. Witherington University of Central Arkansas Bachelor of Arts in English, 1991 University of Central Arkansas Master of Arts in English, 1995 May 2012 University of Arkansas ABSTRACT This project examines how nineteenth-century landscape theories shaped national identity and were influenced by it. Predominant is an investigation of how the desire for a more egalitarian class structure underlies the changes in British landscape design from an attachment to classical exclusivity through pastoral tropes to a limited acceptance of middle and working classes within public landscapes that represented patriotic values. Although poetic works inform the study, novel-length fiction and non-fiction prose and periodicals are also a primary source of consideration. Novels demonstrate how fictional geography generates the constructs of national ideology, and although canonical works typically referenced in studu of nineteenth-century landscape and the development of urban centers drive the discussion, other, less canonical novels and non-fiction historical texts contribute to the study’s approach, which diverges from the rich history of literary criticism involving landscape and urban development in this respect. In addition to adding to the established criticism on landscape and literature, this study traces chronologically the changing attitudes of private and public ownership toward the land and physical environment. Conducting the study through the lens of Marxist economic considerations extends the reach of this research beyond literary scholarship – particularly Victorianist scholarship – to scholars of post-colonial studies, cultural studies, leisure theory, city planning, and the study of the history of public parks. This dissertation is approved for recommendation to the Graduate Council. Dissertation Director: _____________________________________________________________ Dr. David A. Jolliffe Dissertation Committee: _____________________________________________________________ Dr. Danny Sexton _____________________________________________________________ Dr. Amy Witherbee DISSERTATION DUPLICATION RELEASE I hereby authorize the University of Arkansas Libraries to duplicate this dissertation when needed for research and/or scholarship. Agreed _____________________________________ Laura Witherington Refused _____________________________________ Laura Witherington ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I offer my sincerest and most heartfelt thanks to David Jolliffe, whose support and belief in my ability to complete this process have made faith a reality. His timely feedback, close reading, and careful judgment convey all that should be in advising a writer. He exemplifies all that one speculates a graduate advisor should be: patient, brilliant, articulate, and encouraging. I also thank my committee Danny Sexton and Amy Witherbee for their insightful readings and suggestions for improving my ideas, my organization, and my writing as a whole. They have both been attentive and welcomed me into the profession of scholarly research. Our time discussing this topic has been some of the best pure intellectual fun I have experienced. Finally, I wish also to thank Dorothy Stephens, who believed in me and encouraged me from the start of my matriculation at the University of Arkansas. She is a strong academic leader, and her rapport with students demonstrates what is best in the English professoriate. DEDICATION I dedicate my work here first to my husband Brent, whose dedication to me has supported me through the process. He has tolerated my late nights and grumpiness, and he toted three little kids across the Fort Smith and Northwest Arkansas region to keep them occupied while I was writing. He motivated me by assuming me capable of completion. I also offer dedication to Jackson, Janie, and Julia, who lived several days without a mama so that I could become a book doctor and help the sick books. My other family members, Robert and Dianne Cox, Bobby Joe and Liz Witherington, the Bayers, the Haginses, and the Blake Witheringtons, have also encouraged me and celebrated reached milestones. Finally, I also bid appreciation to professional colleagues Jean Braithwaite, John R. Jones, and Darlynn Cast. Jean is the godmother of every good thought I have. All my academic ideas can be traced at some point to a conversation with her, and I’m compelled to filter my thoughts through a projection of her rigorous value system for evidence. John has told me almost every day, “You can do it, kid.” And Darlynn has lived the trials and tribulations of this process by my side. TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter 1: The Neo-Classic Landscape and Its Classical Genealogy: Grounding Nineteenth-Century Ideology ........................................................................................................ 1 The Pastoral Vision ......................................................................................................................4 Moving the Sublime from Rhetoric to Real Estate ....................................................................13 Chapter 2: Establishing Autonomy: Development of a Distinctly British Landscape Aesthetic ........................................................................................................................................ 32 Jane Austen, Landscape, and Class ............................................................................................67 Chapter 3: Enclosure and Exhibition: Contracting and Expanding National Identity ........ 72 Enclosing the Commons and Excluding the Commoners ..........................................................72 Class Conflict on the New Common Grounds ...........................................................................99 National Spectacle, the Great Exhibition, and Determining Who Is Seen ...............................109 Chapter 4: Institutionalizing the Idealized Landscape .......................................................... 123 Class Anxiety: Where Do the Poor Belong in the Landscape? ...............................................123 The Foundation of the National Trust ......................................................................................143 Works Cited ................................................................................................................................ 158 Public Parks and Private Ideologies: Building Nineteenth-Century British National Identity through Landscape Chapter 1 The Neo-Classic Landscape and Its Classical Genealogy: Grounding Nineteenth-Century Ideology Nationality is the generation of a collective self-image, a series of definitions and shared values that a discrete set of people adopts for personal and political motivations. At first, geography might appear immune to the vicissitudes of culturally constructed ideologies, like a stable, immutable force; however, in fact, the land itself is critical to a nation’s self-image, and a people’s perceptions of their nation’s terrain – whether they perceive it as aesthetically contemplative, a challenge that builds character, an isolated landscape that inspires philosophical explorations, or a landlocked country that interacts socially with its neighbors in a constant process of inter-cultural influence – are driven by the same psychological and sociological forces that build all other paradigmatic constructs for understanding and negotiating life. The process of defining national identity can be observed through theoretical discussions of landscape design, texts composed by landscape architects themselves, the writings of philanthropists who argued for the landscape rights of the disenfranchised, and literature that draws on the symbolic meaning of landscape and relies on a common understanding of landscape symbols and signs. This project will examine how nineteenth-century landscape theories shaped national identity and were influenced by it. Predominant will be an investigation of how the desire for a more egalitarian class structure underlies the changes in British landscape design from an attachment to classical exclusivity through pastoral tropes to a limited acceptance of middle and working classes within public landscapes that represented patriotic values. 1 Benedict Anderson notably defined a nation as “an imagined
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