A Social History of Solitude in Early Modern Britain
Time spent alone or, at least, the desire to be alone, is important to everyone. Yet the history of solitude in the early modern period has scarcely been told. This paper presents the introduction to A Social History of Solitude in Early Modern Britain, which provides the first history of solitude of Britain in the period 1600–1800 and the only social history of the subject more broadly. The paper shows how solitude in both its desirable and unintentional forms was understood and experienced by men and women in their everyday lives. The paper's wider aim is to reframe key debates about the individual and social relationships in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries by showing the unexpected and hitherto unacknowledged part that solitude played in the social life of the period.
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Register and Request PaperAbout the Eighteenth-Century Seminar Series
The Eighteenth-Century Seminar is designed to foster research and inquiry across the scholarly disciplines in eighteenth-century studies. It aims to provide a methodologically diverse forum for work that engages ongoing discussions and debates along this historical and critical terrain. Each year the seminar sponsors one public lecture followed by questions and discussion, and two works-in-progress sessions featuring pre-circulated papers.