Crone, Rosalind

English

Histoire sociale / Social History (E-Journal, York University)

561teachers and schooling officials – contesting the meanings of “citizenship” and the seeming contradictory role of schools in meeting both individual and national “needs.”  While Llewellyn certainly seems to maintain a critical approach to much of what her respondents told her, and clearly draws on the critical oral history methods literature noted in her introductory chapter, I must say that I found myself still questioning what it really means for someone to “remember” and relate an event, in interview contexts like these. What does it tell us about that person – who she might have been then, and who she is now? What is the relation between the purported event, the memory of it, and the present context in which this memory is being evoked? What are the limitations of this methodological approach, and in what ways can they, if at all, be addressed?  I was reminded once again of these questions when I read my aunt’s mini-bio in the book, and noticed several factual errors in her story – not important in themselves, to be sure, but serving as a further source of reflection for me. Assuming (perhaps wrongly) that this information was gleaned mainly or solely from the respondents themselves, it does add to the discussion about the complexities and complications of this methodological approach, and oral history generally. Certainly my aunt’s overall assessment quoted in the book about the “teamwork” which she claimed she evidenced in most departments of her school, and the fact that “administration and teachers communicated” (p. 122) doesn’t necessarily reflect my memories (for whatever they’re worth – given my critique here) of her stories at the time. At the same time, Llewellyn’s extensive exploration of the ways in which “professionalism” worked to shape, not only the work, but also the identities and demeanors of teachers, provided me with a better understanding of who my aunt was, and had become, partly as a result of these workplace relations. This is particularly poignant in relation to my new insights gleaned from this reading, of the reasons why she, quite unexpectedly in our minds at the time, decided to retire early, in June of 1975 (not 1977 as stated in the book) – just months before the start of the first, and lengthy, Toronto secondary school teachers’ strike . There was certainly much lead-up to this strike, and I can see even more now, how much it would have served as an imposition, perhaps an affront, to how she had come to see herself as a teacher – something that she would have found very difficult to deal with on a picket line. Llewellyn is to be congratulated on this volume – one which opens up new vistas for understanding the circumstances in which female teachers worked during the immediate post-war decades, and the ways in which they served, and resisted, the interests of the elite in promoting “proper” forms of citizenship among high school students of the times – “democracy’s angels” indeed! Harry SmallerYork Universitymaidment, Brian — Comedy, Caricature and the Social Order, 1820-50. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2013. Pp. 256.“Respectability” is under attack. In recent years, a number of scholars have set out to expose the complexities inherent in respectable culture, redefine the Victorians’ relationship to it, and question the extent to which its emergence between 1820 and 1840 signalled such a decisive break with the past. The latest challenge comes from Brian Maidment’s book, Comedy, Caricature and the Social Order, 1820-50. Contrary to the belief held by a © Histoire sociale / Social History, vol. XLVI, no 92 (Novembre / November 2013)562 Histoire sociale / Social Historysizeable proportion of undergraduates and even a number of nineteenth-century historians, middle-class Victorians did know how to laugh. Comic images – including caricatures, puns and satires – were an important part of early Victorian, as well as Regency, print culture. In fact, by spanning both periods, Maidment’s book demonstrates that not only was the comic art produced in both periods linked by common themes and traditions, but that far from representing a period of decline, as historians have argued in the past (for example, David Kunzle and V.A.C. Gatrell), 1820-50 was a moment of great innovation and activity in this area. Although the images themselves typically became smaller, especially with the decline of the single-plate caricature, the rise of techniques such as wood engraving and lithography, combined with new outlets for publication (journals, fiction and scraps), meant that comic images could now be purchased and consumed by mass audiences. The expanding audience for comic images, Maidment argues, also affected a change in the themes and key narratives portrayed by the artists. Whereas the early decades of the nineteenth century were dominated by political and personal satires, from 1820 these fell into decline in the face of a rising interest in social relationships, in particular, images of tradespeople and their lives. Humorous images of such people on the city streets, including their encounters with those of higher social standing, reflected the “urban anxieties” of the middle classes. Maidment presents an especially rich case study of the comic images satirising the “March of Intellect” during the 1830s. Through images of a “world turned upside down”, including the chaotic upsets caused by labourers neglecting their work to pursue new intellectual pursuits, artists drew attention to the challenges confronting the social hierarchy through mass education, widening access to print culture and the expanding social aspirations of the skilled working classes. Yet even though comic images articulated the anxieties of the middle classes, at the same time they functioned as a coping mechanism for these consumers: the cathartic release provided by humour, by laughing at the absurdities presented, ensured fears were rationalised and put into proportion. Change, however, can be overemphasised and one of the great strengths of Maidment’s book is its attention to crucial continuities in comic imagery. Caricatures etched and engraved during the first few decades of the nineteenth century were often adapted for the new marketplace, a significant number appearing in published collections even in the last decades of the century, thus extending the “cultural influence” of this work into a period often regarded as deeply respectable. The “miseries” genre, in which the inconveniences of city life were exposed and poked fun at, although so apt at encapsulating that “urban anxiety” of the middle classes, was in fact developed at the turn of the nineteenth century to indulge the Regency vision of a picturesque and picaresque city. Finally, as Maidment tells us, one of the triumphs of Punch was the ability of its artists to embrace a more naturalistic style in the presentation of characters (such as the Dustman) while still incorporating subtle elements of the grotesque. Maidment achieves this impressive level of analysis through his attention to detail in studying the range of comic images produced during the first half of the nineteenth century. Comedy, Caricature and the Social Order, 1820-50 tells us a great deal about the content of the images and the market conditions in which they were produced. However, Maidment has less to say about the ways in which such images were consumed, though this may well be a problem of surviving evidence. For instance, Maidment claims that in the period 1820-50 comic images were increasingly made available in ways that allowed for their appropriation into a variety of formats which served readers’ needs. The most obvious example of this were scraps, small comic images which could be cut out and pasted in new arrangements in scrapbooks, a hobby often indulged in by genteel young ladies. The survival of at least a small collection of scrapbooks seems a golden opportunity to make some remarks on how comic images were digested by consumers yet the discussion 563which appears seems rather brief. Similarly, Maidment has little to say about where the expanding market for comic images was based. I did wonder whether this was a book about comic imagery in London or in Britain more generally. Given the urban (and especially metropolitan) focus of many of the images described in this book, how far did these products appeal to consumers based outside the capital? How well did the theme of “urban anxiety” travel? One of the key changes in the content of the images highlighted by Maidment was the shift from cityscape to the domestic interiors of urban tradespeople, particularly noticeable in those engravings and lithographs produced around the theme of the “March of Intellect”. Maidment relates this to a new carnivalesque interest in the previously hidden lives of the working classes, in addition to a concern with the transfer of knowledge within the context of family life. However, given the commercial sensitivity of both the artists and publishers of comic images, perhaps the shift to domestic interiors might have also served as a means of broadening the appeal of these images to those based outside London. Yet these remarks by no means detract from the significant achievements of this book, in its sophisticated treatment of patterns of change and continuity in print culture and important contribution to our knowledge of market conditions in which comic images were produced. Rosalind CroneThe Open UniversityMimeault, Mario — L’exode québécois, 1852-1925. Correspondance d’une famille dispersée en Amérique, Québec, Septentrion, 2013, 443 p.Quel beau livre! Il est un peu inhabituel d’amorcer un compte rendu avec une telle expression qui synthétise mon jugement à l’égard du livre. Pourtant cette expression est fort appropriée pour saluer les mérites de l’ouvrage de Mario Mimeault. L’auteur nous présente un livre agréable à lire qui permet aux lecteurs de voyager à travers l’Amérique du Nord. Ce livre démontre sans contredit que les Canadiens français sont mobiles dans la seconde moitié du XIXe siècle puisqu’ils se déplacent à l’échelle continentale. Dans le cas de la famille de Théodore-Jean Lamontagne, qui est l’objet de ce livre, les membres maintiennent leurs liens entre eux grâce à l’échange de lettres. Certes, certains souligneront que l’auteur a été chanceux de trouver un corpus de lettres si riche couvrant une période de plus de 70 ans. Si la chance a peut-être guidé sa quête, l’analyse du corpus et surtout sa mise en récit démontrent l’intelligence de l’auteur et ses talents pour l’écriture.  L’ouvrage est divisé en quatre parties. La première nous présente le support papier puisqu’il est difficile d’écrire un ouvrage sur la lettre sans y consacrer une partie sur ses caractéristiques matérielles. Comme le rappelle Mimeault, la lettre profite du développement de la poste, car sans ces développements, les échanges de lettres auraient été limités et épisodiques. La deuxième partie permet de découvrir des membres de cette famille, dont 14 d’entre eux ont quitté Sainte-Anne-des-Monts, lieu où vit Théodore-Jean. Si certains comme Antoinette et son mari cherchent à faire fortune en Colombie-Britannique, d’autres sont moins chanceux. Par exemple, Emma se retrouve sur la côte ouest américaine et canadienne, souvent hébergée par ses enfants. La troisième partie traite des causes des migrations des membres de la famille Lamontagne. La lettre permet de découvrir leurs motivations à partir. On y observe des individus capables d’adaptation, mais aussi qui réfléchissent à leur décision de partir. Le choix de partir devient rationnel dans la mesure où les membres de la famille Lamontagne sont convaincus de prendre la bonne décision en fonction des informations à leur disposition. Ce n’est pas un facteur © Histoire sociale / Social History, vol. XLVI, no 92 (Novembre / November 2013)

Maidment, Brian – Comedy, Caricature and the Social Order, 1820-50

https://hssh.journals.yorku.ca/index.php/hssh/article/download/40292/36476

Maidment, Brian – Comedy, Caricature and the Social Order, 1820-50

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Histoire sociale / Social History (E-Journal, York University)