In Market, Mansion or Mountain: Representations of Disability in Reading for the Young in Rural and Urban Contexts, 1850–1950

Abstract

The Rousseauvian view of the countryside as a place of healing, both physical and psychological, has remained extraordinarily pervasive until the present day. This essay explores the changing representation of disability in rural and urban contexts in selected popular texts for the young in Europe, the USA and Australia, between 1850 and 1950, the ‘age of great cities’. Whilst also examining small towns, most earlier texts reiterate the concept of the city as physically damaging and the countryside as a place where miraculous cures might occur. This essay maps a shift from a representation of the countryside as a place for cure, to acknowledgement of the health benefits of cities, in terms of technical expertise and other facilities. From the late nineteenth century, these texts acknowledge the potential dangers of rural environments, but continue to reflect belief in the psychological benefits of the countryside into the 1950s.