Prolific Ground

NICOLLE JORDAN is an associate professor of English at the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg, where she has also served as director of women’s and gender studies.

"A dynamic, fresh consideration of texts that pose important questions of gender identity and social status in relation to landscape. Scholars with interests in women's writing, landscape history, and the possibilities afforded by various literary genres will find this book especially valuable." - Melissa Schoenberger (author of Cultivating Peace: The Virgilian Georgic in English, 1650-1750) "A nuanced discussion of fiction, poetry, and correspondence, Prolific Ground persuasively demonstrates how landscape relations shape gender relations. With an utterly original approach, Jordan simultaneously challenges the assumptions about landscape as a male domain and asserts women's role in this narrative. An important and fresh contribution to the field." - Catherine Ingrassia (author of Domestic Captivity and the British Subject, 1660-1750) "Prolific Ground combines sensitive readings of literary and visual culture with fine attention to the social registers of eighteenth-century women's work. An indispensable guide for anyone interested in the history of landscape." - Elizabeth Eger (editor of Bluestockings Displayed: Portraiture, Performance, and Patronage, 1730-1830)

• List of Illustrations Introduction: Landscape Studies and British Women’s Literary History 1 Jane Barker’s Liminal Landscapes 2 Stewarding the Country House: Anne Finch, Countess of Winchilsea 3 “And the Country Adjacent”: Sarah Scott’s Literary Landscaping 4 Elizabeth Montagu, Bluestocking Landscaper Conclusion Acknowledgments Notes Bibliography Index