Sustaining Empire: Hungry Coasts and Scare Gardens

“Sustaining Empire” argues for the environmental and political interdependence of land and sea in Ireland’s island history. Via a series of turns, inland, eastwards and westwards, the essay traces some episodes in the entangled histories of coastlines, gardens, seeds, plants, and shows how coastal knowledge was shaded by war, revolution and scarcity. Gardens both benefit from and cover over such knowledge, as illustrated by a reading of Maria Edgeworth’s tale “Forgive and Forget.”