Prolific Ground

Landscape and British Women's Writing, 1690–1790

By Nicolle Jordan

SERIES: Transits: Literature, Thought & Culture, 1650-1850

Bucknell University Press

Land ownership—and engagement with land more generally—constituted a crucial dimension of female independence in eighteenth-century Britain. Because political citizenship was restricted to male property owners, women could not wield political power in the way propertied men did. Given its foundational sociopolitical function, land necessarily generated copious writing that vested it with considerable aesthetic and economic value. This book, then, situates these issues in relation to the historical transformation of landscape under emergent capitalism. The women writers featured herein—including Jane Barker, Anne Finch, Sarah Scott, and Elizabeth Montagu—participated in this transformation by celebrating female estate stewardship and evaluating the estate stewardship of men. By asserting their authority in such matters, these writers acquired a degree of independence and self-determination that otherwise proved elusive.

[A] dynamic, fresh consideration of texts that pose important questions of gender identity and social status in relation to landscape. Scholars with interests in women's writing, landscape history, and the possibilities afforded by various literary genres will find this book especially valuable. Melissa Schoenberger, author of Cultivating Peace: The Virgilian Georgic in English, 1650-1750

A nuanced discussion of fiction, poetry, and correspondence, Prolific Ground persuasively demonstrates how landscape relations shape gender relations. With an utterly original approach, Jordan simultaneously challenges the assumptions about landscape as a male domain and asserts women's role in this narrative. An important and fresh contribution to the field. Catherine Ingrassia, author of Domestic Captivity and the British Subject, 1660-1750

Prolific Ground combines sensitive readings of literary and visual culture with fine attention to the social registers of eighteenth-century women's work. An indispensable guide for anyone interested in the history of landscape. Elizabeth Eger, editor of Bluestockings Displayed: Portraiture, Performance, and Patronage, 1730-1830

NICOLLE JORDAN is an associate professor of English at the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg, where she has also served as director of women’s and gender studies.

List of Illustrations

Introduction: Landscape Studies and British Women’s Literary History

1 Jane Barker’s Liminal Landscapes

2 Stewarding the Country House: Anne Finch, Countess of Winchilsea

3 “And the Country Adjacent”: Sarah Scott’s Literary Landscaping

4 Elizabeth Montagu, Bluestocking Landscaper

Conclusion

Acknowledgments

Notes

Bibliography

Index

Related Titles