The Age of Empire (1800-1920) stands out as a profoundly new era in the history of leisure. Especially in cities and towns the landscape of recreation substantially expanded and differentiated, motivating growing masses of people in the Western world to cultivate their increasing and increasingly demarcated leisure time.
Men and women of all classes and ages enthusiastically embraced new commercial, state and civic initiatives to enjoy, enrich and display themselves from music halls, reading rooms and shopping streets to parks, zoos and seaside resorts. Reading, games and gardening made their homes a more pleasurable place too. Which actors and factors were in play to make leisure meaningful? How did leisure activate both peoples minds and bodies in novel ways? How did leisure culture travel across national and continental borders?
A Cultural History of Leisure in the Age of Empire, with a particular emphasis on Western and Central Europe, presents an overview of key themes and trends in this period, with essays on: Ideas of leisure; The performing arts and their audiences; The cerebral arts and their publics; Sports and games; Holydays, holidays and tourism; The world of conviviality; The world of goods; The world of nature; Representations of leisure.
A Cultural History of Leisure is part of The Cultural Histories Series. Titles are available as hardcover sets for libraries needing just one subject or preferring a tangible reference for their shelves or as part of a fully-searchable digital library. The digital product is available to institutions by annual subscription or on perpetual access via www.bloomsburyculturalhistory.com. Individual volumes for academics and researchers interested in specific historical periods are also available in print or digitally via www.bloomsburycollections.com.
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An authoritative exploration of the history of leisure during the long 19th century
Introduction
1. Ideas of Leisure Robert Beck (Université François-Rabelais, France)
2. The Performing Arts and Their Audiences Axel Körner (Leipzig University,
Germany)
3. The Cerebral Arts and Their Publics Kate Hill (Lincoln University, UK)
4. Sports and Games Marjet Derks (Radbound University, Netherlands)
5. Holydays, Holidays and Tourism Kevin J. James (University of Guelph,
Canada)
6. The World of Conviviality Shachar Pinsker (University of Michigan, USA)
7. The World of Goods Anneleen Arnout (Radbound University, Netherlands)
8. The World of Nature Charles-François Mathis (University of Paris 1
Panthéon-Sorbonne, France)
9. Representations of Leisure Christiana Payne (Oxford Brookes University,
UK)
Notes
Bibliography
Index
Jan Hein Furnée is Chair of European Cultural History at Radboud University, The Netherlands. He is the editor, together with Peter Borsay, of Leisure Cultures in Urban Europe, c. 1700-1870: A Transnational Perspective (2016) and the editor, together with Clé Lesger, of The Landscape of Consumption: Shopping Streets and Cultures in Western Europe, 1600-1900 (2014).
