Mai Yatani
Trinity College Dublin, Department of History, Graduate Student
The relationship between urban spaces and female reading habits in the fin-de-siècle Ireland Mai Yatani In fin-de-siècle Ireland, most consumers of culture were based in urban areas, despite the glorification of the countryside... more
The relationship between urban spaces and female reading habits in the fin-de-siècle Ireland
Mai Yatani
In fin-de-siècle Ireland, most consumers of culture were based in urban areas, despite the glorification of the countryside by many of the revivalists. This paper focuses on the urban dimension of the revival movement particularly on female reception of that movement between about 1890 and 1910. As examples of female reception, I will analyse how women (including girls) enjoyed their reading by focusing on the places they choose to enjoy reading.
Two points will be argued here: that there was urban-oriented and anti-countryside sentiment expressed by Irish women during this period. Recent studies have started to throw light on the inseparable relationship between female culture and the urban environment. To keep their reading sophisticated and up-to-date, it was crucial for them to be based in an urban area, which offered easy access to books. This paper will focus on how women related the places and their readings, by drawing on published diaries and memoirs written by female figures such as Mary Hayden and Katharine Tynan. For highly-educated women like these, urban spaces like Dublin, London or Paris, were associated with intellectual freedom and possibility. In order to analyse their positivity toward the urban environment, their anti-countryside feelings should also be taken into consideration. For that purpose, other writings such as novels by female writers will also be analysed here.
This study positions itself at the point of intersection between urban history and the history of woman in order to highlight the different dimensions of the Revival period.
Mai Yatani
In fin-de-siècle Ireland, most consumers of culture were based in urban areas, despite the glorification of the countryside by many of the revivalists. This paper focuses on the urban dimension of the revival movement particularly on female reception of that movement between about 1890 and 1910. As examples of female reception, I will analyse how women (including girls) enjoyed their reading by focusing on the places they choose to enjoy reading.
Two points will be argued here: that there was urban-oriented and anti-countryside sentiment expressed by Irish women during this period. Recent studies have started to throw light on the inseparable relationship between female culture and the urban environment. To keep their reading sophisticated and up-to-date, it was crucial for them to be based in an urban area, which offered easy access to books. This paper will focus on how women related the places and their readings, by drawing on published diaries and memoirs written by female figures such as Mary Hayden and Katharine Tynan. For highly-educated women like these, urban spaces like Dublin, London or Paris, were associated with intellectual freedom and possibility. In order to analyse their positivity toward the urban environment, their anti-countryside feelings should also be taken into consideration. For that purpose, other writings such as novels by female writers will also be analysed here.
This study positions itself at the point of intersection between urban history and the history of woman in order to highlight the different dimensions of the Revival period.
