The Country and the City in the Modern Novel by Raymond Williams (PDF)

Description

As a brilliant survey of English literature in terms of changing attitudes towards country and city, Williams’ highly-acclaimed study reveals the shifting images and associations between these two traditional poles of life throughout the major developmental periods of English culture.

User’s Reviews

Editorial Reviews: Review “The best book by one of the great literary critics of the century. Ideal for courses in English literature and history alike.”–Brie Thompson, UCSC”Williams has undertaken in this book a critical history of English literature from a stimulatingly original point of view.”–Robert Hatch, The Nation”Williams’ historical viewpoint [is] fused out of the materials of an immensely impressive knowledge of literature, a personal commitment, and a sophisticated sort of impressionism.”–Alan Goldfein, Commentary”Its readings are original, its prose is concise, and it is particularly affecting because it expresses its author’s concern with its themes.”–Naomi Bliven, The New Yorker About the Author Raymond Williams, Jesus College, Cambridge University.

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐Having just completely digested the first half of this book (basically the section that deals with the 18th cent.) I can say that I found it a very valuable book for my studies. Williams is an engaging and very readable writer who, unlike other more staid scholars, includes himself within his work. As one fellow graduate student said, he is like a friendly voice calling out in the esoteric world of academia–and sometimes when doing graduate work you really need a friend.Friendly appeal aside, Williams also sets the stage for the New Historicist approach that has ruled the last quarter century in historical, literature, and cultural studies. Reading the first four chapters alone will be beneficial for any wrangling you might do with texts working within in an episteme different than yours.I would highly recommend this text to anyone working in the 18th or 19th century, but do take it with a grain of salt. His citations and line of argument are a bit shoddy at times, but if you just go along with him enjoying the ride, there is considerable payoff at the end.

⭐One of the great classics of Marxist literary criticism and a comprehensive examination of dueling themes throughout the history of English literature. Williams’ writing is gorgeous and should be a model for any aspiring academic (although his method is, perhaps, not as rigorous as we would prefer).

⭐A very accurate account of the working of the British economy, especially in its agricultural aspect, as well as the hypocrisy that masked the aggressive plunder and exploitation that was (is) a necessary component.

⭐It is a really important book if you are interested in the new Historicisms or Victorianism. Fun to read too!

⭐Wide ranging cover of topics with clear prose.

⭐It was with a little trepidation that I began to read the Marxist critic Raymond Williams 35 year old book “The Country And The City”. I need not have been worried.Its obvious that Williams, who was born in a Welsh border village, has a keen knowledge of the reality of countryside grounded in experience. He has usefully augmented this and expanded into other times and places during a life time of city bound study. It is this accumulated knowledge of the literature and reality of country and city as well as the relationship between the two over time that make this an interesting read.The majority of the book focuses on the country-side of the title, intelligent readings of the literature of the time against the reality of Britain’s developing capitalist agricultural, the enclosure of the commons and depopulation. He never loses sight of the fact that the country is lived in and worked by people and in what context this occurs. This provides the framework for a thoughtful consideration of what would have been contemporary literature through the ages: what is written and what is not written, and how the various authors see the country. Initially much of the material is poetry and drama, I regrettably have never had much of a head for poetry but Williams makes such poets as Oliver Goldsmith, William Wordsworth and John Clare explicable. As time progresses more of the material considered is in prose: William Cobbet, Jane Austen, George Elliot, Thomas Hardy, Lewis Grassic Gibbon for example.All this is related to developments in the City, which Williams sees as being connected to the countryside. The reality of life in the city is likewise related to the literature of the times, his consideration of Dickens made me want to re-read at least some of his works.The book ends with an extended essay on the relationship between city and countryside, and steps back to take a global view which is still immensely relevant. There is also thoughts on the future as seen from when the book was written (1973), these unfortunately are still food for thought. Overall the book is a fascinating read, though difficult at times (I had to re-read paragraphs on a few occasions) I found it worth the effort. Well recommended, especially for members of the Countryside Alliance (do they still exist?).

⭐Really like this book. As a rural dwelling, rural upbrought, bumpkin, who nevertheless has had habitual social intercourse with city folk, and cities themselves, it plunged me, through its meditations on history and literature, deeply into the images, signs and languages that have subconsciously impregnated all our imaginations and at which we instinctively grope when trying to make sense of those most fundamental of divisions, rural/urban, modern/tradition, nature/civilisation. Being less versed in English lit than Williams-meister, I found it a bit difficult to keep up at times, but it also whetted by appetite for getting down to some serious literature consumption myself.If you read it, you won’t think about the “countryside” in quite the same way again…which is to say, you’ll actaully think about the countryside as a changing cultural notion, rather than not think about it, which has got to be alright.Wack this on the old bookshelve, and surprise your friends with your hidden marxist-critical-intellectual side. It worked for me.

⭐Such a colossal intelligence applied to one of the great subjects of our time. There are moments when the complex literary analysis throws a fog over the social critique, but there are many other moments when William’s razor sharp analysis shines through; his anger at the ever present injustices and inequalities of rural land ownership and the ongoing National Trust/ Country house stultifying suffocation of our doffing-the-cap obeisance to the Gentry, Williams keeps lifting the lid, and shining a deep light into these dark corners that are forever present. When you put Williams alongside current social commentators such as David Goodhart, you simply mourn the loss of such an intellect and a tenderness towards the human condition as Williams demonstrates throughout the book. And to think that the good people of Abergavenny hardly know of his existence even though he lived his childhood up the road at Pandy and went King Henry VIII school in the town.

⭐We are divided human beings, and this was largely brought about by the division of labour, and its frightful specialisation nowadays : division between town and country, between manual and intellectual work, between man’s and woman’s work. These divsions were of course favoured by capitalism and technics, but they started before both came into full swing. In 1973, Raymond Williams thought we had to do something about it. The least we can say is that we haven’t, it has only got worse and the world is going into the wall faster and faster. Sorry to be so pessimistic, but what’s the use of reading if it doesn’t make you think ? Whoever doesn’t want to think shouldn’t read Raymond Williams. This book says a lot more, of course.

⭐Reviewing this books for my History degree has been both challenging and enjoyable. Top tip: read the first and last chapter to get an idea of the central arguments before you delve deeper into the book.

⭐The work of Rauymond Williams is superb. This book, in particular, raises an extremely important debate about the relationship between the greatest work of art ever created by man – the city, as opposed to source all: nature. Field and landscape are also human creations and nature in them is still present. This is a full work of tensions and incites us to think more clearly.

⭐Raymond Williams tracks the mother of all paradigm shifts, the transition in Britain, from a largely rural way of life to that of the “first predominantly urban dwelling people in the long history of human settlements” And laments the passing of “A way of life that has come down to us from the days of Virgil has suddenly ended” (Williams, 1973).

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