University of London Press
Atlantic Isles: Travel and Identity in the British and Irish West, 1880–1940
- Gareth Roddy (author)
Export Metadata
| Title | Atlantic Isles |
|---|---|
| Subtitle | Travel and Identity in the British and Irish West, 1880–1940 |
| Contributor | Gareth Roddy (author) |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.63674/hyzm1338 |
| Landing page | https://uolpress.co.uk/book/atlantic-isles-travel-and-identity-in-the-british-and-irish-west-1880-1940/ |
| License | https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/legalcode |
| Copyright | Gareth Roddy |
| Publisher | University of London Press |
| Publication place | London, GB |
| Published on | 2025-10-30 |
| Series |
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| ISBN | 978-1-915249-21-0 (Paperback) |
| 978-1-915249-20-3 (Hardback) | |
| 978-1-915249-22-7 (PDF) | |
| Short abstract | Atlantic Isles examines the cultural and political prominence of the ‘westward gaze’ in late-nineteenth century Britain and Ireland. The book reveals how imagined geographies from the Cornish cliffs to the Connemara highlands were spaces of modern enchantment while also central to notions of Britishness at a time when national identity periodically dominated political debate. |
| Long abstract | From remote islands to sunken lands, Gareth Roddy traces how travel writing and tourism shaped the cultural and political imagination of the British and Irish West between 1880 and 1940. The west has long gripped the imagination. In Atlantic Isles, Gareth Roddy examines the cultural and political prominence of the ‘westward gaze’, which flourished in late-nineteenth century Britain and Ireland. From Cornish cliffs and Welsh mountains to Hebridean islands and the Connemara highlands, the west was an imagined geography that transcended the national territories of these isles. In the west, geologists uncovered ancient layers of rock, ethnologists described older racial ‘types’, philologists looked for the survival of Celtic languages, and antiquarians and archaeologists marvelled at megalithic monuments at the Atlantic coastline. The book draws on wide-ranging contemporary sources, including works of geology, philology, ethnology, history, geography, archaeology, folklore, literature, sociology and an extensive collection of travel writing that popularised western landscapes among readers and tourists who explored the increasingly accessible west by road, rail, and steamer. Atlantic Isles reveals that western landscapes were especially powerful spaces of modern enchantment, where stories of sunken lands and mythical islands produced a sense of mystery and wonder in a supposedly disenchanted world. The significance of western landscapes for national identities is well known, but this book demonstrates that the west was also central to debates about Britishness and to the bold attempt to construct a narrative of multinational union that claimed deep historical roots at a time when the subject of Home Rule periodically dominated political debate. |
| Print length | 288 pages |
| Language | English (Original) |
| Dimensions | 156 x 234 mm | 6.14" x 9.21" (Paperback) |
| 160 x 240 mm | 6.3125" x 9.4375" (Hardback) | |
| Media | 5 illustrations |
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Contributors
Gareth Roddy
(author)Gareth Roddy is a Lecturer in Modern British and Irish History at Northumbria University. His research focuses on the cultural and political history of British and Irish landscapes, borders, heritage, and travel.