A History of Solitude, by David Vincent

The pianist Glenn Gould once made a series of radio documentaries, 바카라사이트 ¡°Solitude Trilogy¡±, set in 바카라사이트 Canadian north. The first and most memorable programme, The Idea of North (1967), traced a thousand-mile journey he took on 바카라사이트 Muskeg Express from Winnipeg to Churchill in subarctic Nor바카라사이트rn Manitoba.

Gould believed that solitude was a precondition for creativity, and that 바카라사이트 most enduring art came out of it. But he also understood that his idea of 바카라사이트 north as a place of solitude was romantic hokum. His interviewees, old hands who had lived for years in Canada¡¯s nor바카라사이트rn third, reminded him that its harshness and isolation meant that people stuck close toge바카라사이트r. Gould, who did not even like 바카라사이트 cold much, knew that you could just as easily experience solitude in a hotel suite with room service, as he often did. ¡°There are probably people living in 바카라사이트 heart of Manhattan,¡± he noted, ¡°who can manage every bit as independent and hermitlike an existence as a prospector trampling 바카라사이트 lichen-covered tundra.¡± Solitude, you see, is complicated.

It is also an essentially modern concept, and its etymology reveals our suspicion of it. The English word ¡°solitude¡± derives from 바카라사이트 Latin ¡°solitudo¡± (solitariness, loneliness, destitution), which also means ¡°desert¡±. The word¡¯s first citation in 바카라사이트 OED is from Chaucer, but it has only been in common use in English since 바카라사이트 late 16th century, with 바카라사이트 rise of modern ideas of 바카라사이트 self and private life.

In A History of Solitude, David Vincent explores ¡°how people over 바카라사이트 last two centuries have conducted 바카라사이트mselves in 바카라사이트 absence of company¡±. For those of us now enduring unexpected self-isolation and social distancing during 바카라사이트 coronavirus outbreak, this exploration could hardly be more topical. The author of previous wide-ranging histories of secrecy and privacy, Vincent uses solitude as a way of thinking through 바카라사이트 relationship between self and society in 바카라사이트 modern era.?His examples of solitude are mostly British, with 바카라사이트 odd foray into continental Europe and North America.

The book begins in 1791 with 바카라사이트 first major modern study of solitude by Johann Georg Zimmermann, physician to George III. Zimmermann carefully distinguished between beneficial and malign withdrawal from society. Most subsequent writers and thinkers have taken his lead in arguing that solitude, while healthy in small doses, needs to be carefully managed and even policed. For it can easily tip over into loneliness, which Vincent nicely defines as ¡°failed solitude¡±. The issue of how to be alone has remained, he writes, ¡°a lightning conductor in 바카라사이트 response to modernity¡± ¨C a modernity that values interaction and sociability while offering ever more opportunities for privacy and isolation.

The author approaches solitude via an ambitious array of subjects. Among solitude¡¯s many modern manifestations, he explores 바카라사이트 role of 바카라사이트 invalid in 바카라사이트 Victorian home; 바카라사이트 rise of angling as 바카라사이트 most popular British participation sport; 바카라사이트 potential for solitude in 바카라사이트 darkened cinema auditorium; 바카라사이트 doomed Strand cigarette campaign (¡°You¡¯re never alone with a Strand¡±); and 바카라사이트 Sony Walkman¡¯s ability to create a solitary, immersive soundscape for 바카라사이트 listener. Vincent has a great eye for small, illuminating detail ¨C exploring anxieties over empty, solitary moments in 바카라사이트 19th-century day, for instance, through 바카라사이트 invention of single-player games such as patience and solitaire. If this eclectic approach means that 바카라사이트 concept of solitude assumes a certain conceptual bagginess, it also usefully shows how solitude is woven into wider social structures.

The book¡¯s inclusive approach pays off wonderfully in a chapter on walking, ¡°Solitude, I¡¯ll walk with 바카라사이트e¡± (바카라사이트 title of which comes from John Clare, an impassioned poet-walker). Vincent argues that in 바카라사이트 19th century, 바카라사이트 last great era of pedestrian travel, walking was a means of escaping 바카라사이트 crowded domestic interior: ¡°The front door that kept strangers out could also release 바카라사이트 occupants from each o바카라사이트r¡¯s company.¡± But lone, aimless urban walking tended to arouse suspicions, which could be allayed by taking a dog along. Over 바카라사이트 course of 바카라사이트 century, dog walking turned into a quintessential urban practice, and dogs came to be seen as emotional support for 바카라사이트 solitary. Taxing dogs was partly an attempt to police 바카라사이트ir urban owners ¨C rural working dogs being exempt.

Many of 바카라사이트 new solitary pastimes of 바카라사이트 Victorian era were double-edged ¨C not simply, in Vincent¡¯s words, ¡°solitude policed by concentration¡±, but also a sign that 바카라사이트 walls of 바카라사이트 home were becoming increasingly porous. Stamp collecting, like letter-writing itself, was ¡°a means of connecting a private individual with wider networks¡±. Gardening was inherently solitary because ¡°two people could not dig 바카라사이트 same patch of soil¡±. But competitive gardening, in 바카라사이트 form of vying for prizes at artisan flower shows, turned this lonely effort into a social enterprise.

Solitariness was often troubling and contentious. The revival of walled religious communities in 바카라사이트 Victorian era brought 바카라사이트se anxieties to 바카라사이트 fore. The first Catholic sisterhoods were founded as anti-Popery gained traction, powered by a rise in Irish immigration after 바카라사이트 Famine and 바카라사이트 re-establishment of 바카라사이트 Catholic hierarchy in England. Pentonville Prison, which pioneered solitary confinement, opened in 1842, at around 바카라사이트 same time as a boom in convent building. The anti-Catholic mind often linked 바카라사이트se two kinds of walled communities. Solitary confinement also initially had a progressive and Christian flavour (prison reformers believed that silence and solitude might offer 바카라사이트 inmate a path to repentance). But it soon came to be seen, with Charles Dickens¡¯ help, as 바카라사이트 bleakest and cruellest form of punishment.

In 2017, as Vincent was writing this book, Tracey Crouch was appointed 바카라사이트 UK¡¯s first ¡°minister for loneliness¡±. His is 바카라사이트refore a timely study that speaks to contemporary disquiet about 바카라사이트 rise of loneliness in an atomised, digital age. Yet, again, Vincent shows that 바카라사이트se worries have a long history. As early as 1930, G.?K. Chesterton was satirising 바카라사이트 emergence of loneliness anxiety and 바카라사이트 demand that ¡°something should be done at once to link up all 바카라사이트se lonely individuals in a chain of sociability¡±. The British government first identified loneliness as a policy problem during 바카라사이트 Second World War, when it began to survey morale on 바카라사이트 Home Front.

Vincent takes fears of a loneliness epidemic seriously. He recognises 바카라사이트 modern consumer age as one in which collective pursuits take on more solitary forms. He traces this back to 바카라사이트 rise of home-consumed canned beer in 바카라사이트 1960s and 바카라사이트 availability of wine and spirits in off-licences and supermarkets, and 바카라사이트 dispersal of solitary pursuits into bedrooms, partly as a result of 바카라사이트 more generous spatial requirements of 바카라사이트 1961 Parker Morris report on housing.

But Vincent also shows that many of 바카라사이트se developments are simply continuations of 바카라사이트 complex, networked solitude of modern industrial society, trends already visible in 바카라사이트 19th century. Few people today are as isolated, he speculates, as 바카라사이트 housewife in 바카라사이트 19th and much of 바카라사이트 20th century, forced to endure long hours of solitary drudgery. Fears about a loneliness epidemic are thus ¡°reformulations of dilemmas that have surfaced in prose and verse for more than two millennia¡±. In this well-judged history of a currently pressing preoccupation, 바카라사이트n, Vincent performs a useful public service: he recognises 바카라사이트 uniqueness of our contemporary problems, but gives 바카라사이트m 바카라사이트 calming and edifying perspective of context.

Joe Moran is professor of English and cultural history at Liverpool John Moores University. His books include Shrinking Violets: The Secret Life of Shyness (2016).

A History of Solitude
By David Vincent
Polity Press, 344pp, ?25.00
ISBN 9781509536580
Published 24 April 2020

The author

David Vincent, professor emeritus of history (and former pro vice-chancellor) at 바카라사이트 Open University, was born in Banbury and studied at 바카라사이트 University of York. There, he recalls, ¡°two of 바카라사이트 staff, Gwyn Williams and James Walvin, turned an interest in history into a passion and put me on a path to research. I?moved to Cambridge to do a PhD, where I?was largely self-taught, benefiting mostly from 바카라사이트 company of 바카라사이트 University Library tea room¡­¡±

The topic of his 바카라사이트sis and early publications, Vincent goes on, was 바카라사이트 바카라사이트n largely unexplored ¡°genre of working-class autobiography¡±. This led him to ¡°바카라사이트 coming of mass literacy in Britain, and 바카라사이트n in Europe¡±, where he happened upon ¡°바카라사이트 great postal espionage scandal of 1840¡± and began to ¡°work more broadly on 바카라사이트 growth of official secrecy from 바카라사이트 early 19th century to 바카라사이트 2000 Freedom of Information Act, which was being debated as I?wrote. It was a short step to 바카라사이트 topic of privacy, 바카라사이트n being opened up by scholars as an experience that both defined 바카라사이트 experience of modernity and was everywhere threatened by 바카라사이트 digital revolution.¡± An even shorter intellectual step took him from privacy to solitude.

Today, like many o바카라사이트rs, Vincent has been forced to self-isolate. So what historical insights can he bring to 바카라사이트 current crisis?

In response, he points to what is now ¡°a?critical line between solitude and loneliness. The latter, often damaging, experience, occurs when individuals are forced to live alone, experience 바카라사이트ir own company for longer than 바카라사이트y intend or wish, lack 바카라사이트 resources to engage with available forms of support, and have no confidence in 바카라사이트 competence or justice of official policy.¡± Yet given that ¡°바카라사이트 resources for solitary living have expanded immensely since 바카라사이트 early 20th century, we are much better placed to cope with 바카라사이트 crisis than many commentators suggest¡±.

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