Authors:
- Argues Moore, Ackroyd, and Sinclair present counter-representations of London that unsettle a romanticizing of Englishness
- Defines psychogeography as a form of urban literature
- Explores the concepts of “city-ness”, “London-ness”, and Englishness
Part of the book series: Literary Urban Studies (LIURS)
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Table of contents (5 chapters)
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Front Matter
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Back Matter
About this book
This Pivot book examines literary elements of urban topography that have animated Alan Moore, Peter Ackroyd, and Iain Sinclair’s respective representations of London-ness. Ann Tso argues these authors write London “psychogeographically” to deconstruct popular visions of London with colonial and neoliberal undertones. Moore’s psychogeography consists of bird’s-eye views that reveal the brute force threatening to unravel Londonscape from within; Ackroyd’s aims to detect London sensuously, since every new awareness recalls an otherworldly London; Sinclair’s conjures up a narrative consciousness made erratic by London’s disunified landscape. Drawing together the dystopian, the phenomenological, and the postcolonial, Tso explores how these texts characterize “London-ness” as estranging.
Reviews
“Ann Tso’s The Literary Psychogeography of London provides an intriguing reformulation of psychogeography, one foregrounding ‘labyrinthine London’ as a disruptive and palimpsistic space—or literary property—undermining attempts to secure it for purposes of national identity or trade. Tso astutely charts the shadowy fluid and fractal nature of ‘London-ness’ in provocative readings of Gothic-inflected texts by Alan Moore, Peter Ackroyd, and Ian Sinclair.” (Ryan Trimm, Professor of English, The University of Rhode Island, USA)
“The Literary Psychogeography of London offers fresh readings of Ackroyd, Moore, and Sinclair that reveal their distinctive renderings of a literary London-ness. Tso is attuned to the idiosyncrasies and insights of each of these writers and she identifies new possibilities for psychogeography as a critical and creative practice.” (Nick Bentley, Senior Lecturer in English Literature, Keele University, UK)
“Ann Tso’s The Literary Psychogeography of London investigates the London-ness of London with style, rigour, and clarity. She considers the writing and re-writing of London as a kind of literary palimpsest, and performs an engaging critical archaeology, investigating the ‘three-dimensional personality’ of the city. Considering the works of Ackroyd, Moore, and Sinclair in detail, this is an excellent addition to studies of literary London and a recommended starting point for those interested in beginning a psychogeographical journey through the literary histories of the city.” (Brian Baker, Senior Lecturer in English and Creative Writing, Lancaster University, UK)
Authors and Affiliations
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Lethbridge College, Lethbridge, Canada
Ann Tso
About the author
Ann Tso is Instructor of English at Lethbridge College, Canada. Much of her research concerns popular re-imaginings of world cities, particularly theories of worlding and alternate histories. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in Neo-Victorian Studies, The Literary London Journal, and Journal of Narrative Theory.
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: The Literary Psychogeography of London
Book Subtitle: Otherworlds of Alan Moore, Peter Ackroyd, and Iain Sinclair
Authors: Ann Tso
Series Title: Literary Urban Studies
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-52980-2
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Cham
eBook Packages: Literature, Cultural and Media Studies, Literature, Cultural and Media Studies (R0)
Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-030-52979-6Due: 22 September 2020
Softcover ISBN: 978-3-030-52982-6Published: 23 September 2021
eBook ISBN: 978-3-030-52980-2Published: 21 September 2020
Series ISSN: 2523-7888
Series E-ISSN: 2523-7896
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XIII, 116
Number of Illustrations: 1 b/w illustrations, 3 illustrations in colour
Topics: Literary Theory, European Literature, British Culture, Urban History, Urban Geography / Urbanism (inc. megacities, cities, towns), Cultural Studies