{"id":390,"date":"2020-09-15T17:00:25","date_gmt":"2020-09-15T17:00:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/literarytourist\/?p=390"},"modified":"2018-07-03T16:47:05","modified_gmt":"2018-07-03T16:47:05","slug":"exit-through-the-gift-shop-leaving-things","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/literarytourist\/?p=390","title":{"rendered":"Exit through the Gift Shop: Leaving things"},"content":{"rendered":"

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In my last post I discussed the Victorian practice of bringing books to read in the authors\u2019 homes and haunts. Today, I will be turning from what visitors brought to writers\u2019 homes, to what they left behind. These two things have something critical in common: they are both forms of text. Bringing with them the author\u2019s published text, visitors would often leave behind written texts of their own, in the form of graffiti inscribed or carved in walls, mantelpieces and windows, using a specially cut diamond ring or even a purpose-made diamond stylus.<\/p>\n

Much of the evidence of this on-site inscription has vanished. Where a mass of inscription does survive intact however is on the window pane of Shakespeare\u2019s birthplace in Stratford- upon-Avon. The inscriptions carved here reveal on the one hand the strong desire among visitors to imprint one\u2019s name in such a place, and the sheer wealth of tourists wishing to do so. More interestingly, however, historical accounts reveal the centrality of these inscriptions to subsequent tourists\u2019 visits. Writing in 1822, the author of An Account of the Principal Pleasure Tours of England and Wales<\/em>, declared that the underwhelming experience of visiting Shakespeare\u2019s Birthplace (\u2018a small mean-looking house of wood and plaster\u2019) was only redeemed by looking at the inscriptions:<\/p>\n

The walls of its squalid chambers are covered with names and inscriptions, in every language, by pilgrims of all ranks and conditions, from the prince to the peasant and present a simple but striking instance of the spontaneous and universal homage of mankind to the great poet of nature.<\/p>\n

More than simple vandalism then, what is offered by these inscriptions is the production of a readerly community, relished by successive tourists. So, if you\u2019re still packing your suitcase for that trip you\u2019re planning to a writer\u2019s home or haunt, you might want to chuck in a diamond stylus, too.<\/p>\n

Also on Shakespeare\u2019s birthplace see\u00a0https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/literarytourist\/?p=190<\/a> and \u00a0https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/literarytourist\/?p=127<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In my last post I discussed the Victorian practice of bringing books to read in the authors\u2019 homes and haunts. Today, I will be turning from what visitors brought to writers\u2019 homes, to what they left behind. These two things … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[409,28,33,34,35,32,31,30,29,264,61,58],"class_list":["post-390","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-an-account-of-the-principal-pleasure-tours-of-england-and-wales","tag-history-of-reading","tag-literary-landmark","tag-literary-landscape","tag-literary-museums","tag-literary-pilgrimage","tag-literary-tourism","tag-literary-tourist","tag-love-of-literature","tag-nicola-watson-the-authors-effects","tag-stratford-upon-avon","tag-william-shakespeare"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/literarytourist\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/390","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/literarytourist\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/literarytourist\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/literarytourist\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/literarytourist\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=390"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/literarytourist\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/390\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":393,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/literarytourist\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/390\/revisions\/393"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/literarytourist\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=390"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/literarytourist\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=390"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/literarytourist\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=390"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}