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Автор: Julie E. Fromer
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isbn: 9780821442197
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      A Necessary Luxury

      A NECESSARY

       Luxury

      Tea in Victorian England

      JULIE E. FROMER

       Ohio University Press

       Athens

      Ohio University Press, Athens, Ohio 45701

       www.ohioswallow.com

      © 2008 by Ohio University Press

      All rights reserved

      To obtain permission to quote, reprint, or otherwise reproduce or distribute material from Ohio University Press publications, please contact our rights and permissions department at (740) 593-1154 or (740) 593-4536 (fax).

      Printed in the United States of America Ohio University Press books are printed on acid-free paper

      15 14 13 12 11 10 09 08 5 4 3 2 1

       Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

      Fromer, Julie E., 1970–

      A necessary luxury : tea in Victorian England / Julie E. Fromer.

      p. cm.

      Includes bibliographical references and index.

      ISBN 978-0-8214-1828-4 (alk. paper) — ISBN 978-0-8214-1829-1 (pbk. : alk. paper)

      1. English literature—19th century—History and criticism. 2. Literature and society—Great Britain—History—19th century. 3. Tea—England. 4. Tea in literature. 5. National characteristics, English—History—19th century. 6. England—Social life and customs—19th century. I. Title.

      PR461.F76 2008

      820.9'355—dc22

      2008039562

      Contents

       List of Illustrations

       Preface

       Acknowledgments

       introduction

       Tea, a Necessary Luxury: Culture, Consumption, and Identity

       one

       “A Typically English Brew”: Victorian Histories of Tea and Representations of English National Identity

       two

       Mediating Class Distinctions: The Middle-Class Englishness of Drinking Tea

       three

       “Tea First Hand”: Gender and Middle-Class Domesticity at the Tea Table

       four

       Class, Connection, and Communitas: Wuthering Heights, North and South, and Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland

       five

       Gender, Sexuality, and the Tea Table: David Copperfield, Middlemarch, and Orley Farm

       six

       Tea Drinking, Nostalgia, and Domestic Entrapment: Hester, The Portrait of a Lady, and Jude the Obscure

       conclusion

       Tracing the Trajectory of Tea

       Notes

       Bibliography

       Index

       1.1. The English “constitution,” tea wrapper from Charles Ashford, Grocer and Tea Dealer

       1.2. Boundaries of nation and culture, bill heading from William Wright, Grocer, Tea and Provision Dealer

       1.3. The hybrid English teacup, cover illustration from Arthur Reade’s Tea and Tea Drinking

       1.4. “Tea First Hand,” advertisement for United Kingdom Tea Company

       2.1. “Immense Saving in the Purchase of Tea,” advertisement for Sidney and Company

       2.2. Advertisement for Lipton, Tea, Coffee and Provision Dealer

       3.1. “A Fire Side Chat,” from Edward Bell’s Tea Warehouse

      My scholarship in Victorian literature has always been grounded in my interest in material culture. My initial exploration of tea began from the vantage point of anthropology, analyzing Victorian histories of tea as examples of tourism. As a reader who has always loved nineteenth-century novels—the longer the better—I started to notice how much attention authors paid to the rituals associated with drinking tea, and I gradually traced the patterns that emerged from literary scenes of tea drinking. Since an awareness of the larger significance of tea in English culture and history helps to create a broader understanding of literary tea scenes, the structure of this book follows my own path to tea.

      Chapter 1 investigates representations of tea drinking and English national identity in nonfiction sources, including tea histories, advertisements, and periodical articles. Basing English national identity on a commodity imported to England from foreign locations and exotic cultures created tension within tea histories and advertisements. Nineteenth-century responses to the threats posed by a national thirst for foreign tea imports clustered around three strategies of reasserting the boundaries between self and other, between English tea consumer and Chinese tea producer: brand loyalty, supported by hygienic packaging and manufacturing; affirming the power of English identity through the consumption of global commodities; and expanding the empire to ensure the cultivation of tea within British-controlled colonies.

      Examining sources similar to those of chapter 1, chapter 2 analyzes representations of tea drinking that suggest that English tea drinkers of all classes were united by their preference for tea. While tea histories