Pr. AMANDA VICKERY (University of London) VIENDRA PRESENTER SON OUVRAGE
Behind Closed Doors, At Home in Georgian England, Yale University Press, 2009
LE VENDREDI 26 NOVEMBRE 2010 En Salle A44 à 16h30
Professor Vickery, of the Department of History at Royal Holloway, University
of London lectures on British social, political and cultural history from the
17th century to the present. She is the Director of Royal Holloway's Bedford
Centre for the History of Women.
Vickery's first book, The Gentleman's Daughter (Yale, 1998), won the Whitfield
prize, the Wolfson prize and the Longman-History Today prize and is considered
a reference in 18th century studies.
Professor Vickery's latest monograph is Behind Closed Doors: At Home in Georgian
England was published by Yale University Press in Dec. 2009.
Review/ abstract: "The book unlocks the homes of Georgian England to examine the
lives of the
people who lived there. Writing with wit and verve, she introduces us to men
and
women from all walks of life: gentlewoman Anne Dormer in her stately
Oxfordshire mansion; bachelor clerk and future novelist Anthony Trollope in his
dreary London lodgings; genteel spinsters keeping up appearances in two rooms
with yellow wallpaper; and, servants with only a locking box to call their own.
Professor Vickery makes use of upholsterer?s ledgers, burglary
trials, and other unusual sources to reveal the roles of house and home in
economic survival, social success, and political representation during the long
18th century. Through the spread of formal visiting, the proliferation of
affordable ornamental furnishings, the commercial celebration of feminine
artistry at home, and the currency of the language of taste, even modest homes
turned into arenas of social campaign and exhibition
The book has received rave reviews from critics. Michael Kerrigan from the
Scotsman calls it a “beautifully textured exploration of domestic life”, and
Frances Wilson from the Sunday Times says: “We see the Georgians at home as we
have never seen them before in this ground-breaking book. Behind Closed Doors
is both scholarly and terrifically good fun.”"
The book has been adapted to form a 30 part radio series on BBC radio 4 on the
"history of private life" (aired in autumn 2009) and is soon to be turned into a
BBC 2 documentary series (to be broadcast in December).
For more information see
http://www.wix.com/yalebooknews/amanda-vickery-media-page
http://yalepress.yale.edu/yupbooks/book.asp?isbn=9780300168969
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