This course will mainly focus on representations of London from the late 19th to the 21st centuries in literature and other media. We will establish a dialogue between the views of cultural critics on the modern metropolis and representations of London in different art forms, and we will investigate how the literary texts and films themselves produce a powerful discourse about metropolitan life. Topics will include, for example: flânerie and urban walking; urban gothic; gender and the city; postcolonial London; Thatcherism and the neoliberal city; contemporary life in the margins; contemporary views of London’s history.
Preliminary reading list:
Robert Louis Stevenson, The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Rosamond Lehmann, The Weather in the Streets
Sam Selvon, Lonely Londoners
Penelope Lively, City of the Mind
Kate Tempest, The Bricks that Built the Houses
Additional material will be announced/made available at the beginning of the semester. |
