Writing London and the Thames estuary : 1576-2016 / by Len Platt.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Platt, Len.

Series:

Spatial Practices 25.

Spatial practices : an interdisciplinary series in cultural history, geography and literature ; 25

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

English literature--History and criticism.

English literature.

Geography in literature.

National characteristics, English, in literature.

Literature and society--England.

Literature and society.

London (England)--In literature.

London (England).

Thames River (England)--In literature.

Thames River (England).

Thames River Estuary (England)--In literature.

Thames River Estuary (England).

Physical Description:

1 online resource (227 pages).

Place of Publication:

Leiden : Brill, [2017]

Summary:

Writing London and the Thames Estuary is an ambitious study of place and identity which resonates deeply against the troubled politics of contemporaneity. Drawing on a broad range of cultural materials including novels, film, theatre, tourist literature, topography, chorology and sociological writing, Len Platt traces the making of the estuary as margin by a metropolis that has been dependent on this region, sometimes for its very survival. Drawing on writers and artists ranging from Middleton, Defoe, Pepys, Dickens, Conrad and T.S. Eliot through to such contemporary figures as Iain Sinclair, Nicola Barker, Tracy Emin and Billy Childish, Platt offers a fascinating insight into the formation of ‘estuary grotesque’, the social dismissal out of which post-Brexit politics have emerged to such controversy.

Contents:

Preliminary material

Introduction

Chapter 1: Chorography—Antiquarianism and the Epistemology of Place

Chapter 2: ‘Inconstant Rabble’—Renaissance Dramas, Queenborough, Political Imaginaries

Chapter 3: War Stories, 1667–1942

Chapter 4: Estuary Gothic and the Modern Metropolis

Chapter 5: Estuarine Sociology and the Making of an Underclass

Chapter 6: ‘Eating Gull since Friday’—Estuary Grotesque, Seaside Noir

Chapter 7: The Estuary Writes Back

Postscript—Post Brexit

Select Bibliography

Index of People

Index of Subjects and Places.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (p. 201-207) and index.

ISBN:

90-04-34666-X

Publisher Number:

10.1163/9789004346666 DOI