© Columbia University Press
Gypsies and the British Imagination, 1807-1930
Paper, 240 pages, 20 illus
ISBN: 978-0-231-13705-8
$24.50
/ £14.50
July, 2006
Cloth, 240 pages, 20 illus
ISBN: 978-0-231-13704-1
$43.00
/ £25.50
"A sophisticated, subtle, and highly erudite analysis." — Panikos Panayi, Victorian Studies
"Extensive descriptive passages... Nuanced and perceptive glimpses into the texts and into the lives, character, nature, and motives of the writers themselves." — Journal of British Studies
"A welcome addition to Romani and literary studies." — Marianne Zwicker, H-Ideas
"Gypsies and the British Imagination, 1807-1930 is a highly cogent and persuasive account of an important and largely neglected topic in nineteenth- and early twentieth-century literary and cultural studies. Nord adds fresh insights into canonical authors such as Wordsworth, Scott, Arnold, and Eliot, and perhaps most usefully, brings into sharp view important but often neglected figures (George Borrow) and institutions (the Gypsy Lore Society). The readings of primary texts are unusually nuanced and complex, and Britain’s reactions to the Gypsies, along with questions of gender and of race in general, are handled with tact, sensitivity, and rare intelligence." — Michael Ragussis, Georgetown University, author of Figures of Conversion: “The Jewish Question” & English National Identity
"Deborah Nord's work will add considerably to our knowledge and interpretation of the 'other' within British culture of the nineteenth and early twentieth century. Gypsies and the British Imagination is finely written and manages to do what all the best writing of this kind should—it simultaneously sends one back to familiar texts with fresh understanding, and relates them to some important wider questions." — Kate Flint, Rutgers University, author of The Victorians and the Visual Imagination