A Cross-Cultural History of Britain and Belgium, 1815–1918 : Mudscapes and Artistic Entanglements

"This is a boldly original and enlightening book which explores the rich and distinct 'special' relationship between Britain and Belgium in the nineteenth century. By examining a set of 'cultural entanglements', from Waterloo to WWI, and taking in writers from Wordsworth to James, Demoor remaps Britain's relationship to Europe in the period. By revealing the longstanding depth of connection between Britain and Belgium, she also speaks meaningfully to questions of national identity in our present time." -Professor Mark W. Turner, King's College London, UK "This surprising and fascinating study brings to light the deep entanglement over a long period of British and Belgian experience and writing. It illuminates that history and suggests new ways of thinking about our present situation." -Professor Dame Gillian Beer, Clare Hall, Cambridge, UK This book highlights the ways in which Britain and Belgium became culturally entangled as a result of their interaction in the period between the Napoleonic Wars and the First World War. In the course of the nineteenth century, the battlefields of Waterloo and Ypres in Belgium became veritable burial grounds for generations of dead British military, indirectly leading to the most intensive ties between the two countries. By exploring this twofold path, the author uncovers a series of cross-influences and creative similarities within the Belgo-British artistic community, and explores the background against which the British national identity was constructed. Revealing unknown links between some of the most famous artists on both sides of the channel, such as D.G. Rossetti and Jan Van Eyck; Christina Rossetti and Fernand Khnopff; John Millais and Pieter Breughel, and Lewis Carroll and Quentin Massys, the book emphasises an artistic cross-fertilisation that can be found within battlefield literature throughout the nineteenth century, including examples from the likes of William M. Thackeray, Frances Trollope and Charlotte Brontë. Providing a rich intercultural history of Belgo-British relations after the battle of Waterloo, this interdisciplinary book will appeal to scholars and students researching history, literature, art and cultural studies. Marysa Demoor is Professor Emerita of Victorian and Modernist Culture at Ghent University in Belgium.-- Provided by publisher Acknowledgements 7 Contents 10 List of Illustrations 12 1 Introduction: The Special Relationship Between Britain and Belgium 16 Objectives 19 Scholarly Context 21 2 British Identity in Belgian Soil 31 The Location of Identity 36 Before Waterloo 43 Writing the Journey 44 3 Waterloo Visitors, the Immediate Aftermath 57 Waterloo: Naming the Battlefield 59 William Wordsworth: A Brief Poetic Inspiration 63 Robert Southey: Pursuing Fame at Waterloo 75 Sir Walter Scott and Lord Byron: Opposites Will Meet 78 Lord Byron’s Pilgrimage to Waterloo 83 4 The Fiction of Belgium 98 The Trollopes in Belgium 98 William Makepeace Thackeray in Search of Vanity 108 5 The Allure of the Middle Ages: The PRB Meet Van Eyck, Inc. 123 William Morris Discovers Medieval Flanders50 140 6 A Royal Example—Creating a European Family 152 The Brontë Theory21 158 Unmasking Leopold II 167 7 Surrealist Entanglements 184 Grotesque Attraction 188 James Ensor, “Master of Darkness” 205 8 From Ashes to Soil to Mud 212 War Graves, War Mud, War Poems 215 Mud as a Mother 218 9 “There Is No Art More Exciting Than English Art”: British–Belgian Artistic Liaisons, 1890–1919 232 Olivier Destrée, Unknown Belgian Link 235 Raphael Petrucci, Echoes from the East 240 Fernand Khnopff, Symbolist Painter, and Belgian Anglophile 242 Henry James, an American in Britain63 245 Royal Connections, Again 251 10 Epilogue: The Colour of National Identity 268 Endorsements of A Cross-Cultural History of Britain and Belgium, 1815–1918 274 Select Bibliography 275 Index 283 Britain and the Worldis a series of books on ‘British world’ history. Theeditors invite book proposals from historians of all ranks on the waysin which Britain has interacted with other societies from the sixteenthcentury to the present. The series is sponsored by the Britain and theWorld society.