Abstract
Through their study of everyday mobilities in nineteenth- and twentieth-century British diaries, Colin and Marilyn Pooley bring together the mundanity of mobilities and diary writing. This is a particularly fruitful pairing since everyday mobilities are typically associated with banality, while diary writing by ‘ordinary’ individuals tends to focus on the seemingly trivial details of daily life. As textual material, personal diaries shift attention away from the more spectacular journeys undertaken by public figures, often captured in (auto)biographical narratives intended for publication, or from travelogues describing distant destinations. As the authors argue, mobilities scholarship has tended to prioritise contemporary, large-scale forms of mobility such as international migration. By turning their gaze to the ordinary mobilities recorded by British diarists in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the authors emphasise “the significance of the mundane”, (p. 3) while highlighting the value of historical accounts in understanding present-day mobilities.
The mundane is a relevant and intriguing concept not only in terms of what diaries can reveal about everyday life in the past but also because the repetitive elements of daily life often elude detailed representation – even in diaries. As the authors note, it is typically the more unusual aspects of mobility that receive fuller narrative treatment: visits to unfamiliar places, experiences with new modes of transport, disruptions to routine travel or meaningful encounters while on the move are described in greater detail, whereas the most routine daily itineraries may be practically omitted. As such, the question to what extent the most banal aspects of mundane mobilities can be studied through diaries becomes a relevant one.
The authors advocate for the validity and uniqueness of diaries as research material because they offer insights into experiences of everyday mobility that are rarely documented elsewhere. Similar arguments have been made by scholars examining embodied experiences of mobility in (historical) literary texts. 1 Compiling a relevant set of text passages for analysis is not straightforward, as everyday mobilities seldom comprise a consistent theme for diarists. To gain glimpses into the meanings of mundane mobilities in the research material, the researchers must wear their mobility lenses to identify relevant fragments and to weave them into a meaningful whole.
The introductory sections, which outline the strengths and limitations of diary texts as sources for historical mobilities research, are particularly insightful, emphasising the distinctive nature of the material. The analysis chapters approach everyday mobilities from multiple angles, including location, life course, gender, financial means, journey purpose, and immobility. The book is written in an accessible style and is a pleasure to read, potentially appealing even to non-academic audiences. Both lengthy and concise diary excerpts are included. While one of the book's aims is to illuminate how everyday mobilities were experienced in the past, much of the material consists of rather brief factual records such as geographical coordinates, departure and arrival times and distances travelled, rather than complex emotional or sensory reflections. Although the authors skilfully use even the most laconic entries to support their argument, it is evident that more detailed writing – often produced by young female diarists – offers the richest insights into lived experiences of mobility.
A central argument of the study is the diversity of lived everyday mobilities in nineteenth- and twentieth-century Britain. The book documents not only socio-historical changes in transportation technologies but also the role of individual agency in how these technologies were adopted and how they coexisted with others. The diary excerpts rather explicitly reveal the transformation of walking from a common mode of everyday transport to one increasingly avoided in favour of automobility. Furthermore, the material illustrates the varied purposes of travel, painting a vivid picture of the intersecting and multifaceted mobilities of the past. The gendered nature of mobility, and its entwinement with socio-economic status, is also foregrounded, offering insights into the politics of mobility over time. 2 Notably, like mobility itself, diary writing is shaped by factors such as gender, class and life course. Everyday Mobilities in Nineteenth- and Twentieth-Century British Diaries contributes meaningfully to scholarly discussions of historical mobilities, subtly engaging with the notion of the mundane by linking it to wider social contexts while also exploring its expression through individual experiences.
