The Country and the City
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The Country and the City by Raymond Williams, published in 1973.
| Author | Raymond Williams |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Cultural studies |
| Publisher | Chatto and Windus |
| Released | 1973 |
| Media type | Print (book) |
| ISBN | ISBN 0701210052 |
"A contrast between country and city, as fundamental ways of life, reaches back into classical times." But though the contrast is real, each is a complex experience in itself. Interconnections are often surprising.
[edit] Plot introduction
Coming from the Welsh border, a village in the Black Mountains, Raymond Williams found that the images of rural life taught at Cambridge did not match what he had seen. As an academic at Cambridge, he studied and examined the contradiction. Also the contrasting idea of the city, which has never been separate from the countryside. Rural life without cities existed in other parts of the world, but not for a very long time in Britain.
Chapter 2, A Problem of Perspective, examines the idea that an ancient continuous rural life has recently ended. Authors generally remember this timeless order existing in their own childhood. But look at writers from the time of their childhood, and they consider that the timeless order has already vanished, having still existed in the older writer's childhood. He gives a chain of examples, going back as far as Thomas More in 1516.
Urban life is also examined - see in particular chapter 19, Cities of Darkness and of Light.
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