Villages and Village Life Observed, Remembered, and Imagined

Abstract

This article examines some of the ways in which villages and village life are represented in a selection of English and Irish texts published between 1812 and 1912. It focuses on the village as a key site of complex emotions, psychological states, and ideological values and tensions, and considers the significance of changing economic circumstances and increasing social mobility in the shifting perceptions of villages. The discussion includes Maria Edgeworth's The Absentee, Mary Mitford's Our Village, Richard Jefferies’ ‘My Old Village’, George Moore's ‘Home Sickness’, and George Sturt's Change in the Village.