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

Review
“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
“Navigating between two of the world's most defining battlefields, Waterloo and Ypres, this book is a wonderful discovery of the strong cultural entanglements between Belgium and Britain in the nineteenth century. Innovative and revealing too is the literary analysis of the war poetry generated by those Belgian battlefields in view of the construction of Britishness."
―Peter Piot KCMG, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, 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.
From the Back Cover
“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 explorin