The Displaced Naturalist: W. F. Campbell’s Life of Exile in Normandy
This article examines the dynamics of rootedness and displacement; bourgeois authority and peasant ways of life; signified and signifier, that are at work in Walter Frederick Campbell’s Life in Normandy (1863).Walter Frederick Campbell (1798–1855) spent the last years of his life in Avranches, Norma...
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| Pubblicato in: | URI:https://journals.openedition.org/etudesecossaises, |
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| Natura: | Article ou chapitre numérique |
| Lingua: | Anglais |
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Études écossaises
2011
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| Accesso online: | Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM |
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openedition-oai:revues.org:etudesecossaises_229 |
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openedition |
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OpenEdition Journal |
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Anglais |
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Article ou chapitre numérique |
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0/Bibliothèque numérique/ 1/Bibliothèque numérique/OpenEdition Journals/ |
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This article examines the dynamics of rootedness and displacement; bourgeois authority and peasant ways of life; signified and signifier, that are at work in Walter Frederick Campbell’s Life in Normandy (1863).Walter Frederick Campbell (1798–1855) spent the last years of his life in Avranches, Normandy as an economic refugee. He had been Laird of Islay for thirty-two years and his financial ruin was in large part due to the agricultural and economic reforms he had implemented on the island. He was in many ways a benevolent proprietor and was described as “a man of kind heart and generous nature”. The reforms he introduced were farsighted, visible in the landscape still today, while he resisted the temptation to clear the overpopulated island.Life in Normandy is a fictionalized account of Campbell’s experience in and around Avranches. His son, John Francis Campbell edited the two volumes and declared them to be primarily a philanthropic effort to teach Scottish peasants how to improve their practices: “It was suggested that a good cheap dinner would tempt a poor man from bad dear drink abroad, and that a poor Scotchman’s wife might be taught to do that which poor wives do elsewhere” (p. v). Hope and Cross, the protagonists of the narrative are clearly Campbell’s alter egos and are both passionately interested in nature, fishing and shooting. The action in Normandy takes place against the background of rumblings from the 1848 Revolution in Paris.The account can be read as a long reflection on the dislocation of identity and the precarious meaning of home for the economic exile as well as for the Scottish and French peasant. |
| author |
Graham, Lesley |
| spellingShingle |
Graham, Lesley The Displaced Naturalist: W. F. Campbell’s Life of Exile in Normandy |
| author_facet |
Graham, Lesley |
| author_sort |
Graham, Lesley |
| title |
The Displaced Naturalist: W. F. Campbell’s Life of Exile in Normandy |
| title_short |
The Displaced Naturalist: W. F. Campbell’s Life of Exile in Normandy |
| title_full |
The Displaced Naturalist: W. F. Campbell’s Life of Exile in Normandy |
| title_fullStr |
The Displaced Naturalist: W. F. Campbell’s Life of Exile in Normandy |
| title_full_unstemmed |
The Displaced Naturalist: W. F. Campbell’s Life of Exile in Normandy |
| title_sort |
displaced naturalist: w. f. campbell’s life of exile in normandy |
| publisher |
Études écossaises |
| publishDate |
2011 |
| container_title |
URI:https://journals.openedition.org/etudesecossaises |
| url |
https://ezproxy.univ-orleans.fr/login?url=https://doi.org/10.4000/etudesecossaises.229 https://ezproxy.univ-orleans.fr/login?url=https://journals.openedition.org/etudesecossaises/229 |
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openedition-oai:revues.org:etudesecossaises_229 https://doi.org/10.4000/etudesecossaises.229 urn:doi:10.4000/etudesecossaises.229 en https://journals.openedition.org/etudesecossaises/229 2011-09-30T02:00:00Z info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess article info:eu-repo/semantics/article urn:handle:20.500.13089/g5sx All rights reserved The Displaced Naturalist: W. F. Campbell’s Life of Exile in Normandy Études écossaises UGA Éditions - Université Grenoble Alpes info:eu-repo/semantics/reference/issn/1969-6337 info:eu-repo/semantics/reference/issn/1240-1439 URI:https://journals.openedition.org/etudesecossaises Graham, Lesley This article examines the dynamics of rootedness and displacement; bourgeois authority and peasant ways of life; signified and signifier, that are at work in Walter Frederick Campbell’s Life in Normandy (1863).Walter Frederick Campbell (1798–1855) spent the last years of his life in Avranches, Normandy as an economic refugee. He had been Laird of Islay for thirty-two years and his financial ruin was in large part due to the agricultural and economic reforms he had implemented on the island. He was in many ways a benevolent proprietor and was described as “a man of kind heart and generous nature”. The reforms he introduced were farsighted, visible in the landscape still today, while he resisted the temptation to clear the overpopulated island.Life in Normandy is a fictionalized account of Campbell’s experience in and around Avranches. His son, John Francis Campbell edited the two volumes and declared them to be primarily a philanthropic effort to teach Scottish peasants how to improve their practices: “It was suggested that a good cheap dinner would tempt a poor man from bad dear drink abroad, and that a poor Scotchman’s wife might be taught to do that which poor wives do elsewhere” (p. v). Hope and Cross, the protagonists of the narrative are clearly Campbell’s alter egos and are both passionately interested in nature, fishing and shooting. The action in Normandy takes place against the background of rumblings from the 1848 Revolution in Paris.The account can be read as a long reflection on the dislocation of identity and the precarious meaning of home for the economic exile as well as for the Scottish and French peasant. Cet article traite de la dynamique d’enracinement et de déplacement, de l’autorité bourgeoise et de la vie paysanne ainsi que du signifié et du signifiant en jeu dans l’ouvrage Life in Normandy de Walter Frederick Campbell (1863).Exilé pour des raisons économiques et financières, Walter Frederick Campbell (1798-1855) passa les dernières années de sa vie à Avranches en Normandie. Auparavant, il avait été propriétaire de l’île d’Islay pendant trente-deux ans et sa ruine financière fut en partie due aux réformes agraires et économiques introduites sur cette île par ses soins. Il était, à bien des égards, un propriétaire bienveillant, décrit comme un homme de cœur et de nature généreuse. Il sut résister à la tentation d’expulser la population de l’île par des clearances. Ses réformes visionnaires sont encore perceptibles de nos jours sur la terre d’Islay.Life in Normandy est l’histoire romancée de la vie de Campbell à Avranches et ses alentours. Son fils, John Francis Campbell édita les deux volumes, les décrivant comme avant tout un effort philanthropique pour inciter la paysannerie écossaise à améliorer ses pratiques: « On suggéra qu’un bon dîner à peu de frais inciterait un Écossais pauvre à rester chez lui plutôt que de dépenser son argent sur des beuveries à l’extérieur, et qu’on pourrait enseigner à sa femme à faire ce que font les femmes ailleurs » (p. v). Hope et Cross, les protagonistes du récit sont très clairement les alter ego de Campbell, tous deux passionnés de nature, de pêche et de chasse. L’action se déroule en Normandie sur fond révolutionnaire parisien en 1848.On peut considérer que le récit constitue une longue réflexion sur la dislocation, le délitement du sentiment identitaire de l’auteur et sur la signification instable et mouvante de la notion du « chez moi » pour l’exilé économique et pour le paysan, français aussi bien qu’écossais. |