Overview

This book explores the literary representation of late Victorian and early Edwardian London from an auditory perspective, arguing that readers should ‘listen’ to impressions of the city, as described by writers such as Conrad, Doyle, Ford and Gissing. It was in this period that London began to ‘sound modern’ and, through a closer hearing of its literature, writers’ wider responses to modernity are revealed. The book is structured into familiar modernist themes, revisiting time and space, social progress and popular culture through an exploration of the sound impressions of some key works.  Each chapter is contextualized by these themes, revealing how the sound of the news, social protest, music hall and suburbanization impacted on writers’ literary imaginations. Suitable for students of modernist literature and specialists in sound studies, this book will also appeal to readers with a wider interest in London’s history and popular culture between 1880-1918.

Full Product Details

9781137540164

Table of Contents

Reviews

The book will be of interest to all those working in the literature and ideological politics of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. ... Sound and Modernity in the Literature of London, 1880-1918 is a very successful book, one from which I have learnt a lot, and one which I have thoroughly enjoyed reading. (Christo Hadjiyiannes, English Literature in Transition 1880-1920, Vol. 62 (3), 2019) Philosophy and Oscar Wilde provides a fine opportunity to consider the extent to which his work reveals a productive interchange between the two fields. ... Philosophy and Oscar Wilde is thought-provoking throughout. ... the volume adds detail and depth to an understanding of Wilde's relationship to philosophy. (Timothy l. Carnes, English Literature in Transition 1880-1920, Vol. 62 (3), 2019)

Author Information

Patricia Pye is Senior Lecturer at Bucks New University, UK.

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