Author Description

Curious Travellers: Writing The Welsh Tour, 1760-1820 Provides The First Extensive Literary Study Of British Tours Of Wales In The Romantic Period (c.1760-1820). It Examines Writers' Responses To Welsh Landscapes And Communities At A Time Of Drastic Economic, Environmental, And Political Change. Opening With An Overview Of Welsh Tours Up To The Early 1700s, Mary-ann Constantine Shows How The Intensely Intertextual Nature Of The Genre Imbued Particular Sites And Locations With Meaning. She Next Draws Upon A Range Of Manuscript And Published Sources To Trace A Circular Tour Of The Country, Unpicking Moments Of Cultural Entanglement And Revealing How Travel-writing Shaped Understanding Of Wales And Welshness Within The Wider British Polity. Wales Became A Popular Destination For Visitors Following The Publication Of Thomas Pennant's Tours In Wales In The Late 1770s. Hundreds Of Travel-accounts From The Period Are Extant, Yet Few (particularly Those By Women) Have Been Studied In Depth. Wales Proves, In These Narratives, As Much A Place Of Disturbance As A Picturesque Haven--a Potent Mixture Of Medieval Past And Industrial Present, Exposed Down Its West Coast To The Threat Of Invasion During The Napoleonic Wars. From Castles To Copper-mines, Constantine Explores The Full Potential Of Tour Writing As An Idiosyncratic Genre At The Interface Of Literature And History, Arguing For Its Vital Importance To Broader Cultural And Environmental Studies.