David Vincent - A History of Solitude

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2 Front Matter A HISTORY OF SOLITUDE DAVID VINCENT polity

3 1 Introduction: Solitude Considered‘Zimmerman on Solitude’ The Modern History of Solitude The Tally Ho Stakes Notes

4 2 Solitude, I’ll Walk with TheeClare, Keats, and Solitude The Crusoe of His Lonely Fields Rambling The Wild A Life Apart from Other Things Notes

5 3 Home Alone in the Nineteenth CenturyThe Threat of Idleness Patience and Other Pastimes Networked Solitude Out of Doors The Invalid in the Home Notes

6 4 Prayers, Convents, and PrisonsSolitary Spiritual Communication Enter into Thy Closet Sisterhoods and Convents The Terrors of Solitude To be Alone with Him Notes

7 5 Solitude and Leisure in the Twentieth CenturyPeace and Quietness Comfort and Communication The Pleasures of Solitude A Companion to Me in Solitude Fishing and the Universe Notes

8 6 The Spiritual RevivalThe Immense Indifference of Things Exploring Nature Nautical Solitude Modern Solitary Confinement The Monastic Revival The New Spiritualism Notes

9 7 The ‘Epidemic of Loneliness’ RevisitedThe Rise of Loneliness The Panic Loneliness and Solitude Notes

10 8 Conclusion: Solitude in the Digital Era Notes

11 Index

12 End User License Agreement

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To the memory of Veronica Weedon, 1919–2017

DAVID VINCENT

polity

Copyright © David Vincent 2020

The right of David Vincent to be identified as Author of this Work has been asserted in accordance with the UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

First published in 2020 by Polity Press

Polity Press

65 Bridge Street

Cambridge CB2 1UR, UK

Polity Press

101 Station Landing

Suite 300

Medford, MA 02155, USA

All rights reserved. Except for the quotation of short passages for the purpose of criticism and review, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher.

ISBN-13: 978-1-5095-3660-3

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Vincent, David, 1949- author.

Title: A history of solitude / David Vincent.

Description: Cambridge, UK ; Medford, MA : Polity, 2020. | Includes

bibliographical references and index. | Summary: “A wide-ranging social

history of why and how people have chosen to be alone”-- Provided by

publisher.

Identifiers: LCCN 2019043747 (print) | LCCN 2019043748 (ebook) | ISBN 9781509536580 | ISBN 9781509536603 (epub)

Subjects: LCSH: Solitude.

Classification: LCC BJ1499.S65 V56 2020 (print) | LCC BJ1499.S65 (ebook) | DDC 155.9/2--dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019043747LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019043748

The publisher has used its best endeavours to ensure that the URLs for external websites referred to in this book are correct and active at the time of going to press. However, the publisher has no responsibility for the websites and can make no guarantee that a site will remain live or that the content is or will remain appropriate.

Every effort has been made to trace all copyright holders, but if any have been overlooked the publisher will be pleased to include any necessary credits in any subsequent reprint or edition.

For further information on Polity, visit our website: politybooks.com

This book, as with any other historical enterprise, is the product of lone endeavour and collective support. I am particularly grateful to Barbara Taylor, both for the funded network she has established on the history of solitude and for sharing her own knowledge and expertise. Her forthcoming study of the subject in the early-modern era will be a necessary complement to this exercise. The ‘Pathologies of Solitude’ seminars have been a useful location for testing the ideas and conclusions of my work.