Dio Chrysostom and the Mountains of Euboia

This chapter talks about the countryside, which has often been idealised as an unspoiled space set apart from the problems of urban life throughout the Western literary tradition. It cites Raymond Williams's The Country and the City that drew attention to the artificiality of nostalgic images of rural life in English literature from about 1600 onwards. It also considers the idea of pristine nature free from human interference as a fabrication, even in imagining and pursuing an ideal that is generally undermined. The chapter looks at the most remote rural environments that carry the marks of human presence and human activity, and the origins of that situation stretch far back into human history. It describes the images of primitive rustic community free from urban corruption that often turn out on closer inspection to reveal more about urban fantasies and urban priorities.

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