This collection of essays examines representations of the English countryside and its mutations, and what they reveal about a nation’s, communities’ or individuals’ search for identity – and fear of losing it.

1. Introduction - David Haigron.- 2. Part I: Rural Communities and Modernity: The English Countryside as an Invested Space - 2. Rural Protest in England - Brendan Prendiville.- 3. Agents, Beneficiaries and Victims: Picturing People on the Land - Jonathan Bignell & Jeremy Burchardt.- 4. Visions of Rurality in Popular British Fictional Television Series from the 1970s to the Present Day - Renée Dickason.- 5. Part II: Praised Harmony and Revealing Dissonance: The English Countryside as a Resonant Space - 5. Rural Landscape in Patrick Keiller’s Robinson in Space and Robinson in Ruins - Georges Fournier.- 6. London’s Parks, Suburbs and Environs: The English Countryside through the Eyes of French Visitors (1814-1914) - Richard Tholoniat.- 7. Myths of “Old England” Revisited: Thomas Hardy’s Dissonant Representations of Rural Spaces in Under the Greenwood Tree, Far From the Madding Crowd, and The Woodlanders - Thierry Goater.- 8. Going and Staying: Traditional Music in the Poetry of Thomas Hardy - Dennis Siler.- 9. Part III: Exploration and Meaning: The English Countryside as a Liminal Space - 9. “The Innocent Island”: A Language of Violence in Woolf and Bowen - Gregory Dekter.- 10. Rosamond Lehmann’s In-between Landscapes: Taking Possession of the “Empty Pastoral Scene” - Jessica Le Flem.- 11. Rural Sites: Transformations and Experiment in the Poetry of Mark Goodwin - Kerry Featherstone. 

This collection of essays examines representations of the English countryside and its mutations, and what they reveal about a nation’s, communities’ or individuals’ search for identity – and fear of losing it. Based on a pluridisciplinary approach and a variety of media, this book challenges the view that the English countryside is an apolitical space characterised by permanence and lack of conflict. It analyses how the pastoral motif is actually subverted to explore liminal spaces and temporalities. The authors deconstruct the “rural idyll” myth to show how it plays a distinctive and yet ambiguous part in defining Englishness/Britishness. A must read for both scholars and students interested in British rural and cultural history, media and literature.

“A stimulating exploration of how the land we know as the English countryside has been imagined, portrayed and contested in popular culture. It is recommended reading for anyone interested in peering beyond the chocolate-box idyll.” (Michael Woods, Aberystwyth University, UK) “This book focuses on the debunking of an idealized English countryside seen as a relief from the tensions of urban, modern and frenzy England. Through a great variety of media, it sheds a light on how the representations of rural England have permeated the English frame of mind and therefore enabled people to build their own identity.” (Gilles Teulié, Aix-Marseille University, France) “Half about literature and half about the history of representations, this book offers us a subtle and thorough approach to the meanings of countryside in English cultural production. From the promotional strategies of rural tourism to the complexities of countryside settings in comedy sitcoms or in Hardy’s novels, the work provides a perspective which may change forever the way you look at the countryside!” (John Mullen, University of Rouen, France)

Sheds new light on representations of the English countryside from the 19th century to the present day, in relation to the question of identity (Englishness/Britishness) Offers a fresh and pluridisciplinary approach, borrowing from sociology, rural and cultural history, media and film studies, and literary and poetry analysis Based on a wide range of primary sources, including press, documentary films, television series, travelogues, paintings, photographs, music, novels, and poetry Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras