Mapping ‘Wordsworthshire’: A GIS Study of Literary Tourism in Victorian Lakeland
Affiliation
University of Birmingham; Lancaster University; University of ChesterPublication Date
2015-08-14
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
This article answers the call for scholarship that models the implementation of geographic information systems (GIS) technologies in literary-historical research. In doing so, it creates a step change to the integration of digital methodologies in the humanities. Combining methods and perspectives from cultural history, literary studies, and geographic information sciences, the article confirms, challenges, and extends understanding of Victorian literary tourism in the English Lake District. It engages with the accounts of several nineteenth-century tourists, paying specific attention to Nathaniel Hawthorne’s English Notebooks and Hardwicke Drummond Rawnsley’s A Coach Drive at the Lakes, which are examined alongside contemporaneous guidebooks and other commercial tourist publications. In the process, the article draws attention to a spatial correlation between the route of the Ambleside turnpike (the Lake District’s principal coach road) and the major literary sites to which Victorian Lakeland visitors were guided. Recognizing this correlation, we contend, helps to deepen our appreciation of how the physical and imaginative geographies of the Lake District region interrelate. Specifically, it helps us appreciate how the Victorian fascination with the Lakeland’s literary associations was modulated not only by interest in the region’s other attractions, but also by material conditions on the ground.Citation
Donaldson, C., Gregory, I., & Murrieta-Flores, P. (2015). Mapping ‘Wordsworthshire’: A GIS Study of Literary Tourism in Victorian Lakeland. Journal of Victorian Culture, 20(3), 287-307. DOI:10.1080/13555502.2015.1058089Publisher
Taylor & FrancisJournal
Journal of Victorian CultureAdditional Links
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13555502.2015.1058089Type
ArticleLanguage
enDescription
This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Journal of Victorian Culture on 14/08/2015, available online: doi: 10.1080/13555502.2015.1058089EISSN
1750-0133ae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1080/13555502.2015.1058089
Scopus Count
Collections
Except where otherwise noted, this item's license is described as https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/