ENGL2885 · English

London Underworlds, 1750-1900

Morrissey College of Arts & Sciences

London is the subject of so many literary works because it houses so many secrets. Some of those secrets are openly visible if we know how to see them; others are hidden away in back alleys, dark rooms, and behind closed doors. In plays, novels, and other cultural materials, we will explore subterranean tunnels and take a literary tour of the East End, among other adventures, as a way to think about how London literature uses secret or deviant spaces (and people it deems deviant) to tell its stories. In addition, we will examine the social and political conditions tied to representing Londons underworlds in literature. Does literature hope to solve the problem of deviance in London, or does subversiveness thrive in the interstices between literature and real life? Texts will likely include works by Robert Louis Stevenson, Arthur Morrison, Henry Mayhew, and Margaret Harkness, among others.