230042 London: 'That overgrown monster' (S) (WiSe 2022/2023)

"Sir, if you wish to have a just notion of the magnitude of this city, you must not be satisfied with seeing its great streets and squares, but must survey the innumerable little lanes and courts. It is not in the showy evolutions of buildings, but in the multiplicity of human habitations which are crowded together, that the wonderful immensity of London consists. I have often amused myself with thinking how different a place London is to different people.” (Dr Johnson, acc. to James Boswell)

In addition to outlining the evolution of this metropolis, which over the centuries has fascinated and disgusted, made and ruined inhabitants and visitors alike, we will read together literary, journalistic, scientific and sociological, private and public texts from various seminal moments in London’s history. Our aim will be to understand the discourses that have been used to construct this urban space and to appreciate ‘how different a place’ it has been and still is to different people.

Bibliography

We will definitely read Ben Aaronovitch, The Rivers of London, 2010. So please buy a copy of this novel and start reading.
Other texts will be made available.
For a TV series that gives you a good overview of London's history, go to London 2000 Years Of History https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-hOIyvgYg4
If you want a good socio-cultural overview, go for Peter Ackroyd, London: The Biography, 2000