Garden Rooms

Abstract

To determine how domestic space is represented in eighteenth-century British novels, thus far this study has focused on rooms within the domestic interior; specifically on the representation of the parlour, the drawing-room, the dressing-room and the private closet. But in the eighteenth century, it would have seemed unusual to evaluate the design and cultural perceptions of the house without considering its relation to the garden and its garden buildings. Consequently, the final chapter turns from the domestic interior to the exterior and the surrounding garden to explore the representation of the summer-house or arbour in Richardson’s three novels, The History of Miss Betsy Thoughtless and Evelina.KeywordsPolite SocietyBack DoorPrivate GardenDomestic SpaceArchitectural SpaceThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.