The Lure of the Sea: Discovery of the Seaside in the Western World, 1750-1840 - Couverture rigide

Corbin, Alain

Couverture rigide

ISBN 10 : 0745607322 ISBN 13 : 9780745607320

Editeur : Polity Press, 1994

A propos du livre

Quatrième de couverture

The Lure of the Sea is a brilliant account of how the pleasures of the seaside were discovered in the western world, written by one of the most creative historians in Europe today. Well–illustrated and accessible, it charts the changes in the popular view of the shore and the rise of the coastal resort as a place of recreation and rest.

Corbin argues that with few exceptions people living before the eighteenth century knew nothing of the attractions of the coast, the visual delight of the sea, the desire to brave the force of the waves or to feel the coolness of sand against the skin. The image of the ocean in the popular consciousness was coloured by Biblical and mythical recollections of sea monsters, voracious whales and catastrophic floods.

Corbin shows how, with the Enlightenment, a profound change occurred in people′s attitudes towards the sea. During the most important period, between 1750 and 1840, the discovery of the seaside as a place of pleasure and relaxation led to the rapid growth of British coastal towns such as Brighton, followed by the other resorts in Europe, from Deauville to Marbella and the Greek Isles. With abundant references to the literature and visual arts of the period, Corbin describes the changing habits and fashions of visitors to these resorts, from the patients sent under doctors′ orders to bathe in ice–cold seawater, to the women bathers of the nineteenth century who avoided indiscreet gazes by entering the waves through specially designed wagons.

Revue de presse

"Broad–ranging, scholarly, always suggestive." The Observer

"Alain Corbin′s The Lure of the Sea is a compact and brilliant taxonomy of the shifting meanings of the sea and shore." New York Review of Books

"Stimulating and valuable for students of the history of resorts, the arts and the economic value of the sea as a source of fish and routeway." The Mariner′s Mirror

À propos de cette édition

• Éditeur: Polity Press
• Date d'édition: 1994
• ISBN 10: 0745607322
• ISBN 13: 9780745607320
• Reliure: Relié
• Nombre de pages: 320
• Illustrateur: Phelps Jocelyn