Bleak House, Vanity Fair, and the Making of an Urban Aesthetic

2000 ◽  
Vol 54 (4) ◽  
pp. 480-502 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sambudha Sen
Keyword(s):  
Visual Culture ◽  
William Makepeace Thackeray ◽  
Upper Class ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Vanity Fair ◽  
Bleak House ◽  
Literary Methods ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The City

This essay focuses on the relationship between certain popular visual forms, such as the city sketch and the panorama, and the making of an urban novelistic aesthetic, of which Charles Dickens's Bleak House (1852-53) is the most developed embodiment. In order to delineate the specific features of this urban aesthetic I turn to the very different ways in which William Makepeace Thackeray in Pendennis (1848-50) and, especially, Vanity Fair (1847-48) articulates the city and those who inhabit it-despite Thackeray's familiarity with the representational modes that developed in the relatively "lower" forms of visual culture. Through this process of differentiation I show how this urban aesthetic involves distinct ways of negotiating such problems as the tension between the dispersive and the centralizing impulses of the city, as well as the threat that the teeming, socially unpredictable life of the city posed to the traditional domain of the novel, the middle- or upper-class home. Finally, by setting off Dickens's mode of figuring character against Thackeray's more self-consciously literary methods, I highlight the ways in which the urban aesthetic that underlies Bleak House affected Dickens's methods.

scholarly journals The Relationship between Dominance and Resistance in the Novel High Fidelity

2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (22) ◽  
pp. 283-298
Author(s):  
Aleksandar Živanović ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Popular Culture ◽  
Lower Class ◽  
Upper Class ◽  
High Fidelity ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Class Member ◽  
Moral Principles ◽  
Successful Business ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Relationship

This paper provides an analysis of the relationship of dominance and resistance in the novel High Fidelity. The aim of the paper is to identify the elements of popular culture in the novel and thus determine the nature of possible relationships in a patriarchal, capitalist society. The theoretical framework used in the paper is Fiske’s theory of popular culture (2001) and the analysis is based on regarding the characters as representatives of dominant and resistant forces. Men and the upper class constitute categories which are dominant in the relationship with subordinate ones – women and the lower class. In addition, the protagonist Rob is the prototype of a man who is subordinate to himself, i.e. to his representation of ideal male traits he lacks, according to his own beliefs. The subordinate put up resistance in different ways. Laura is a successful business woman who possesses a strong character, which places her into a better position than that of Rob. The protagonist uses music as one of the ways to express his resistance. As a lower class member (i.e. a poor entrepreneur), the protagonist opposes upper class members (wealthy entrepreneurs) in that he possesses moral principles which they often lack.

Casting Shadows at Chesney Wold: Empty-House-Time and Realism in the British Novel

2020 ◽  
Vol 53 (2) ◽  
pp. 165-192
Author(s):  
Laura Strout
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Built Environment ◽  
Literary Realism ◽  
The Novel ◽  
British Novel ◽  
To The Lighthouse ◽  
Bleak House ◽  
The World ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Affective Dimensions

Abstract What insights into literary realism can be found by dwelling in the empty rooms and abandoned spaces of Bleak House, a novel more often read for its representation of overcrowded environments? Traveling between and imaginatively inhabiting empty houses of Charles Dickens's and Virginia Woolf's construction, this article proposes empty-house-time as a distinctive narrative chronotope, one that nineteenth- and twentieth-century British writers use to investigate the processes of realist fiction, especially its affective dimensions. Taking the character-less built environment as a figure for the novel form, the article shows that the chromatic present that characterizes narratives of spaces like Chesney Wold when the Dedlocks are absent throws into flux boundaries between the fictional and the real, the reader and the world of the text, and different modes of imagining. It opens up continuums along which strategies of realist characterization and world-building are dramatized and interrogated. Most powerfully, empty-house-time reveals how affects associated with imagining the world going on without you shape encounters with fiction. Identifying the vital, ongoing existence of unoccupied rooms in Dickens's writing can in turn revitalize studies of the relationship between Victorian and modernist novels and theories of realism. This article concludes by turning to the Ramsays’ abandoned coastal home in To the Lighthouse, in which Woolf, like Dickens, links an interrogation of realist fictionality to a historically specific reimagining of the household.

scholarly journals Imagination and mobility in the city: Porosity of borders and human development in divided urban environments

2020 ◽  
Vol 26 (4) ◽  
pp. 676-696
Author(s):  
Sandra Jovchelovitch ◽  
Maria Cecilia Dedios Sanguineti ◽  
Mara Nogueira ◽  
Jacqueline Priego-Hernández
Keyword(s):  
Human Development ◽  
Rio De Janeiro ◽  
Human Mobility ◽  
Urban Environments ◽  
Cultural Environment ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Social Actors ◽  
Cultural Layers ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The City

We focus on the notion of borders to explore how mobility and immobility in the city affect the relationship between human development and urban culture. We define borders as a relational space made of territoriality, representations and different possibilities of mobility and immobility. Drawing on research in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro, we suggest a systematic approach to the analysis of borders and identify the socio-institutional, spatial and symbolic elements that make them more or less porous and thus more or less amenable to human mobility. We highlight the association between porosity in city borders and human development and illustrate the model contrasting two favela communities in Rio de Janeiro. We show that participation in the socio-cultural environment by favela grassroots organisations increases the porosity of internal city borders and contributes to the development of self, communities and the city. To focus on borders, their different elements and levels of porosity means to address simultaneously the psychosocial and cultural layers of urban spaces and the novel ways through which grassroots social actors develop themselves through participation and semiotic reconstruction of the socio-cultural environment.

Ethnic vs Class Voting: The Case of Winnipeg, 1945

1974 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 314-328 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nelson Wiseman ◽  
K.W. Taylor
Keyword(s):  
Social Class ◽  
Working Class ◽  
Proportional Representation ◽  
Data Sources ◽  
Upper Class ◽  
Class Voting ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The City ◽  
Prairie Provinces

This paper examines the relationship of social class, ethnicity, and voting in the city of Winnipeg in the 1945 provincial election. Our data sources were the 1946 census and provincial election returns. The Winnipeg provincial constituency was selected for a number of reasons. In 1945, it corresponded to the city of Winnipeg boundaries, thus permitting the correlation of the 1946 Census of the Prairie Provinces data with the October 1945 voting results. Second, it had both a large number of non-British voters and candidates, which allowed a test for the importance of ethnic voting. Third, Winnipeg had (and has) a large working-class population and pockets of upper-class areas, permitting a test for the importance of class voting. Finally, as a multi-member constituency returning 10 members, a system of proportional representation was employed. With 20 candidates in the running for 10 seats, 15 ballot transfers were necessary before all 10 candidates were declared elected. An examination of these ballot transfers permits a corroborating test for class and ethnic voting.

scholarly journals Claves en la escritura de Lara Moreno: "Por si se va la luz" en el marco de la nueva narrativa rural

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carmen María López-López
Keyword(s):  
Economic Crisis ◽  
Urban Spaces ◽  
Literary Representations ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Rural And Urban ◽  
Spanish Fiction ◽  
Siglo Xx ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The City

El propósito de este artículo es analizar la escritura de Lara Moreno en el marco de la narrativa neorrural. Nuevas tendencias literarias como el ruralismo o el giro hacia el campo suponen una reacción contra el poder hegemónico de las ciudades que emergió en el siglo XX. La ficción española ofrece en muchos casos un camino narrativo para explorar las representaciones literarias del ruralismo en el siglo XXI. Desde esta perspectiva, se propone profundizar en Por si se va la luz, una novela escrita por Lara Moreno en la que Nadia y Martín abandonan la ciudad para ir a vivir al campo ante el ascenso de la crisis económica. Este acontecimiento supone una grieta o un corte desde una perspectiva simbólica, de acuerdo con los diferentes ejes en que la novela se estructura: la tensión entre los espacios rural y urbano, los cruces entre los instintos animales, la sexualidad y la racionalidad, así como la relación que los personajes establecen con el lenguaje y el silencio para verbalizar la distopía desde un escenario rural. The aim of this article is to analyze the writing of Lara Moreno in the frame of neorrural narrative. New literary tendencies such as ruralism or the turn to the countryside suposes a reaction against the hegemonic power of cities which rise on twenty centuries. Spanish fiction offers in many ways a narrative camine to explore literary representations of ruralism in XXI century. From this perspective, it is proposed to delve into Por si se va la luz (2013) a novel written by Lara Moreno, in which Nadia and Martín leave the city to go to live to the countryside considering the rise of economic crisis. This event suposes a crack or cut on a simbolic way, according to the different axis in which the novel is structured: the tension between rural and urban spaces, the between animal instints, sexuality and rationality, so as to the relationship which character stablish with language and silence in order to verbalize the dystopia from the rural scenery.

Wealth

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clifton Hood
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
New York City ◽  
York City ◽  
Social Groups ◽  
Upper Class ◽  
Business Success ◽  
Cultural Changes ◽  
Key Characteristics ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The City

Between 1820 and 1860, New York City experienced phenomenal economic growth that enlarged and enriched the urban upper class. Rapid growth brought in newcomers like John Jacob Astor, introduced new sources of merit, and put enormous weight on the pursuit of business success and on the accumulation of wealth. Merchants became distinct and self-conscious group who were now on top of the urban status hierarchy. The increased emphasis on wealth and enterprise weakened much of the old opposition to materialism, but anti-materialism did not so much disappear as become reactive to business dominance, with members of the existing upper class reacting to nouveau riches by stressing their own refinement, learning, family history, and so forth. Two key characteristics of the New York City upper class surfaced in this period. One was internal complexity. As the upper class became larger and wealthier, multiple and partially competing ways of belonging to it arose, and by the 1850s it had split into different economic and social factions. The second was a permanent malleability. The dynamic urban economy would cause the upper class to experience recurring social and cultural changes and meant that from now on the relationship that the upper class had with the city and with other social groups would repeatedly shift.

scholarly journals Fiction et réalité dans Pays sans chapeau de Dany Laferrière: Entre autobiographie, autofiction et au-delà

Literator ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Arthur Mukenge ◽  
Emmanuel Kayembe
Keyword(s):  
Nous Allons ◽  
Theoretical Point ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Dany Laferriere ◽  
Autobiographical Texts ◽  
The Dead ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The City ◽  
Sheer Number

En architecte, le narrateur monte en épingle l’histoire d’ici et d’ailleurs : après vingt années passées à Montréal, il fait un rebond chez lui, à Port-au-Prince (cfr Pays sans chapeau). À première vue, Haïti demeure le même ; c’est le statu quo que le narrateur observe : l’odeur du café est la même, la pauvreté aussi crue que violente affecte la population, les amis du narrateur sont restés fidèles à leur jeunesse. Par la même occasion, le roman relance le débat sur la pertinence de la migration, qui, du coup, semble moins centrée à une ère où l’imaginaire se situe au-delà des pays « réel » et « imaginaire » ; cette dichotomie donne une vraie valeur intrinsèque à Pays sans chapeau et démontre, de ce fait, la belle forme technique et esthétique du roman. Ainsi, nous allons chercher à démontrer comment Pays sans chapeau constitue un corpus stratégique qui se situe entre l’autobiographie, l’autofiction au delà …Fiction and reality in Pays sans chapeau (A country without a hat) by Dany Laferrière: Between autobiography autofiction and beyond. Pays sans chapeau (a country without hat) is one of the novels written by Dany Laferrière and published in 2007. This book deals with the return of the narrator, Vieux Os, to Port-au-Prince after many decades spent abroad in exile. It is also based on the painting or description of the Haitian society in which the narrator is horrified by the sheer number of the dead people or ghosts walking around together with the living in the streets of the city. He realises that the city of Port-au-Prince is overcrowded, yet he cannot distinguish the living from the dead amongst the bodies. The article aims to research the perpetual problem of the relationship between reality and fiction in autobiographical texts. An attempt will be made to determine to which category the novel Pays sans chapeau belongs. Consequently, it also analyses the dichotomy between the fictional and the real. This article will take as its theoretical point of departure Philppe Lejeune and Isabelle Grell’s definitions of autobiography and Jenny Laurent’s definition of autofiction.

scholarly journals TOPOGRAPHPICAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL DIMENSION OF THE NOVEL “THE CITY AND THE CITY” BY CHINA TOM MIEVILLE TOPOGRAPHPICAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL DIMENSION OF THE NOVEL “THE CITY AND THE CITY” BY CHINA TOM MIEVILLE

2018 ◽  
pp. 71-75
Author(s):  
Daria Denisova
Keyword(s):  
Emotional Response ◽  
Specific Effect ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Self Identity ◽  
Psychological Dimension ◽  
Weird Fiction ◽  
The Given ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The City ◽  
Mind's Eye

The paper focuses on the topography of “The City and the City” by China Tom Miéville and its relation to the novel’s generic and compositional structure. Starting with the findings of cognitive poetic studies regarding readers’ emotional response to the text and the mechanisms behind it, I demonstrate how the topography of the textual world adds to the effects of unease in Weird Fiction and in C. Miéville’s works. Using the example of the odd topography in “The City and the City”, I show its relevance as a compositional core of the novel, a tool to explore the psychology of the city dweller, and an experimental space for reviewing the notions of self-identity, personal freedom and the power of limitations. I argue that the specific effect of unease in Weird Fiction is partly due to the grotesque topography which the reader attempts (and often fails) to conjure up in his mind’s eye following the character’s exploration of the given space. The disorienting topography is new to both the reader and the character, and the tension builds as the two discover more and more unusual aspects of it. No stranger to this strategy, C. Miéville, however, takes a different approach in “The City and the City”. Structuring the novel around the strange topography of the city(-ies), Miéville forces the reader to deduce its weird laws and makeup from the life of its native. Thus, the relationship between the city and the citizen becomes the central mystery of the novel which I attempt to explore in my reading of it.

scholarly journals Персонажная система и мотивная структура повести Г. Башкуева «Убить время»

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 384-392
Author(s):  
Olga V. Khandarova ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Short Story ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Recent Past ◽  
Childhood Memories ◽  
Short Story Cycle ◽  
Self Reflection ◽  
Character System ◽  
Plot Structure ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The City

Introduction. Gennady Bashkuev’s works attempt to comprehend the late Soviet and post-Soviet eras, and To Kill Time proves a most significant prose work of the writer. Goals. The article seeks to identify and analyze the relationship between the system of characters in the novel and its motif structure, which helps clarify the underlying idea of the work, eclectic in structure and close in form to a short story cycle. Methods. The study rests on the theses about a relationship between semantics of motif and character, predicativity of motif, and on the concept of motif complexes and leitmotif construction of the narrative. Results. The main character of the novel is the narrator, the narrative proper divided into childhood memories and those of recent past. The characters of childhood can be clustered into three groups: family, friends, adults —motifs of happiness, celebration, romantic dreams and that of loss are associated with them. The characters of adulthood are women and childhood friends who are associated with motifs of marginal life, betrayal, guilt, and that of romance. The motifs of ‘childhood’ and ‘adulthood’ memories are intertwined, and it is the motif structure that ensures the integrity of the narrative. The key role in the novel is played by the binary image — the saleswoman Inga and the city madwoman — that combines two main themes for the narrator’s self-reflection: childhood and women. The plot structure partly fits into the universal mythological scheme: a series of trials — sketches-events from the life of the autobiographical narrator — is built into somewhat a ‘mythological journey’ to finally end with the acquisition of ‘elixir’ — catharsis and spiritual liberation. Conclusions. The image of the protagonist, the narrator, is explicated in the text and is revealed in the system of motifs associated with characters of his memories. Analysis of the character system proves instrumental in revealing key ideas of the novel and interpreting its title: those are reflections about time that become a focus of the author’s viewpoint uniting the seemingly disparate stories.

scholarly journals Visões de Lisboa em dissonância: dinâmicas do poder no espaço urbano e escritas em trânsito

2020 ◽  
pp. 155-174
Author(s):  
Luca Fazzini
Keyword(s):  
Daily Life ◽  
Literary Texts ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Capitalist Development ◽  
Public Power ◽  
Urban Dynamics ◽  
City Space ◽  
In Transit ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The City

This article aims to analyse the literature produced in Europe and in Portugal in particular, by people in transit, contemporary migrants, focusing on the dissonances present in these texts in relation to the he-gemonic collective imaginary. Considering the urban dynamics and the action of public power in Lisbon, as well as the representation of the city space in contemporary literary texts - including the novel Luanda, Lisboa, Paraíso (2018), by Djaimilia Pereira de Almeida -, this article highlights the relationship between contemporary capitalist development and colonial persistence in the daily life of the city of Lisbon.

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