Anne Clifford and Samuel Pepys: Diaries and Homes

ABSTRACT

This article examines the diaries of two great English characters of the seventeenth century, Lady Anne Clifford (1590–1676) and Samuel Pepys (1633–1703), in order to explore their representation of houses and ideas of home. Taking these two texts as case studies, it explores the significance of houses in relation to family history and personal advancement, as well as their function as places of self-fulfillment. Contrasts of gender and class play an important part in the analysis, which concludes with an emphasis on rhetorical houses and the nature of diaries as textual homes replete with recorded memories.