Imagining the City - Einzelansicht

The course will explore processes of urbanisation in Britain via representations of London in fiction, poetry, paintings, etc. Thus, it will be an excursion through British history from the 18th century right to the present. The discussions will focus on an investigation of the aesthetics of these texts as well as their complex cultural, social etc. contexts in order to grasp a historicised concept of (urban) life/transitions. Depending on the number of participants, the course will offer ample room for creative presentations.

The online format will combine synchronous Zoom sessions that simulate the face-to-face seminar situation with asynchronous weeks for individually scheduled preparation/work time in group work.

Daniel Defoe, Journal of the Plague Year 1665 (1722); William Wordsworth, “Composed Upon Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802.” Lyrical Ballads, vol. 2 (1807); Charles Dickens, The Old Curiosity Shop (1840/41); Robert Stevenson, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde (1886); Arthur Symons, "London Nights"; Virginia Woolf, Mrs. Dalloway (1925)/”Kew Gardens”; Geoff Nicholson, Bleeding London (1997); Monica Ali, Brick Lane (2002)