Conceiving the City: London, Literature, and Art 1870-1914

253 Pages·2007·1.92 MB·English

by  Nicholas Freeman

CONCEIVING THE CITY
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Conceiving the City:
London, Literature,
and Art 1870–1914
NICHOLAS FREEMAN
1
1
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Preface
Thisbookisaninvestigationofthewaysinwhichwritersandartistsapproached
therepresentation of London between the death of Charles Dickens in 1870
and the outbreak of the First World War. During these years, London was
the most heavily populated city in the world, and one whose physical and
psychologicallimitsseemedallbutimpossibletodemarcate.Thefluidnature
oftheEnglishcapitalalarmedsomeandexcitedothers,promptinggreatdebate
abouthowliteratureandartmightcopewiththeprofoundchallengesofsuch
an environment. Much recent scholarship has concentrated on ‘reading’
London,thatistosay,onapplyingcontemporarycriticaltheorytoacanonof
literaryworkswhichseemtoforeshadowthemetropolitandevelopmentsand
concerns of our own time. The results have been valuable and stimulating,
butsuchstudieshaveoftenunderestimatedtheextenttowhichcontemporary
theoryisanticipatedbytheinsightsofapreviouscentury.
This book attempts to give some sense of the ways in which figures from
the worlds of journalism, sociology, literature, and visual art grappled with
devising a language of metropolitan representation during the fin de siècle.
Theemergenceofthislanguagewasscarcelyacoherentorunifiedproject,for
it took many forms and had widely varying degrees of success. Nonetheless,
individualswhoostensiblyhavelittleincommonandarenowverydifferently
regarded—Monet is a major modern artist, E. V. Lucas is a forgotten
hack—madeadeterminedsearchforawayinwhichtheymightcommunicate
their sense of a new metropolitan realm. How could any literary or artistic
workhopetodojusticetothevastnessofLondon,withitshordesofpeople,
itsnoise,itsfogs,itsinsatiableconsumptionofthesurroundingcountryside?
AnsweringthisquestiontaxedwritersfromGeorgeGissingtoE.M.Forster,
fromHenryJamestoArthurMachen,andartistsfromWilliamPowell Frith
toJamesMcNeillWhistler.Itproducedabewilderingselectionofresponses.
Attheheartofthesearchforanewlanguagewasthedominantartformof
thenineteenthcentury:realism.Ridiculedandmisrepresentedbymodernists,
realismwasactuallyasuperblymalleableandadaptablesetofprocedures.Inthe
periodunderdiscussion,itabsorbedasemi-scientificmaterialisticnaturalism,
mutated into a fragmentary, evanescent impressionism that sought what
RobertBrowninghadearliercalled‘theinstantmadeeternity’,andembraced
abrooding,mysticallyinformedsymbolismthatdelvedintothedeeperrealities
thatlaybeneathoutwardperceptions.Moreimportantly,thesedifferingskeins
ofrealistartcontinuedtointertwine,meaningthatawritersuchasFordMadox
vi Preface
FordcouldmovefromadiscursivesociologicalstylethatdrewuponDickens
and Victorian ‘social explorers’ such as Mayhew, to a far more ‘modern’
fragmentarinessinthespaceofafewparagraphs.Artisticallegianceshadyet
to calcify into fixed positions, and the results of continued experiment were
oftenfascinating,aswellasfar-reaching.
ConceivingtheCitybeginsbyalertingthereadertosomeoftheproblemsand
challenges posedby London in thelate nineteenth century. It thenproceeds
toconsider someoftheforms realism assumed, or someofthemoulds into
which it was poured, over an approximately fifty-year period. Rather than
focus on individual writers or works, it attempts to read a wide variety of
textual and artistic productions alongside one another. It is hoped that this
willnotonlyblurtheboundariesofthecanonoflate-Victorianliteratureand
artbutwillalsoshowhowoftenideaswhichmightnowberegardedasthoseof
FoucaultordeCerteauweredevelopedbywriterswhoarenowrarelyread,let
alonestudied. Thestudyisthereforelessacriticismofcontemporarytheory
thanatimelyrecognitionofitsorigins.
The writing of this book has incurred a great number of intellectual,
practical, and social debts. I therefore thank the following institutions and
individualsfortheirhelpandencouragement.
At the University of the West of England where much of this book was
written, I especially thank Dr Alice Entwistle, Dr Kent Fedorowitch, Dr Bill
Greenslade,DrBenHighmore,ProfessorRobinJarvis,DrJenniLewis,Profes-
sorPeterRawlings,DrGrahamSaunders,andDrVictoriaStewart,allofwhom
offered constructive suggestions and advice and answered an unreasonably
highnumberoffoolishquestions.ThanksarealsoduetoAmandaSalterand
thestaffoftheuniversitylibrary,whosehelpwasalwayspromptandcourteous.
IbeganmyexplorationofliteraryLondonwhileapostgraduatestudentat
BristolUniversity.HereIwasfortunateenoughtobesupervisedbyProfessor
Timothy Webb and Dr Peter McDonald. Only now do I appreciate their
struggles in reining in and directing my enthusiasm. Professor Webb in
particular did much to clarify my ideas and approach, and I am forever
grateful for his insight and hard work, as well as for the scholarly model
he offered. I must also thank Dr Michael Bradshaw, Dr Stephen Cheeke,
MarjorieDunderdale,JanetGliddon,DrStephenJames,andDrTomMason.
My fellow postgraduates Robert Dimbleby, Richard Evans, Dr Ben Hawes,
DrBethanJones,andDrAdamRouncewereastutecriticsaswellasconvivial
companions:Iamgratefultotheminmanyways.
Furtherafield,ProfessorMaxSaundersofKingsCollege,London,DrSara
Haslam of the Open University, and Barrie Johnson of the Ford Madox
Ford Society kindly shared their knowledge of Ford’s early career. Michael
Bott, archivist par excellence at the University of Reading introduced me
Preface vii
to the Alvin Langdon Coburn photographic collection and other treasures,
and could not have been more generous with his time and expertise. The
staff of the British Library, the Museum of London, and the University of
Birminghamlibrarytrackeddownaplethoraofelusiveworks.Thankstooto
JanetWalwynoftheBodleianLibraryforhermuchappreciatedeffortsonmy
behalf.ProfessorSimonEliotofLondonUniversityisamineofgoodsenseto
whoseencouragementandadviceIamgreatlyindebted.DelegatesatTheCity
andtheSublime(UniversityCollegeCork,2000),andthefirstLiteraryLondon
conference(Goldsmiths,UniversityofLondon,2002)alsoofferedinteresting
suggestions.OthervaluablesupporthascomefromPaulDignum,JonWatson,
Lisa Gledhill, Dr Tom Hibbert, and those doughty survivors of the College
of Knowledge, Norma, Christopher, Emma and Jessica McCormack, Keith
Ripley,andJohnWindsor.
Andrew McNeillie and his colleagues at OUP have proved helpful and
supportive throughout. Thanks are also due to the anonymous readers who
madeanumberofvaluablecriticismsandsuggestions,allofwhichhave,Iam
sure,greatlyimprovedthefinalproduct.Ineedhardlyaddthatanyerrorsare
myown.
Finally,thisbookcouldnothavebeenbegun,letalonecompleted,without
thesupportofmyfamily.Mymostprofoundthanksandgratitudearereserved
forthem.
For permission to quote from the works of Ford Madox Ford, I thank
David Higham Associates. Brian Reade granted permission to quote from
the writings of Arthur Symons. For permission to quote from the works of
ArthurMachen,IthankA.M.HeathandCompany.Forpermissiontoinclude
Punch’s ‘The Winter Art Exhibitions’, I thank Punch. The reproduction of
Whistler’s Nocturne in Blue and Silver—Cremorne Lights is courtesy of the
TateGallery,andAlvinLangdonCoburn’sOntheEmbankmentiscourtesyof
the Science and Society Picture Library. The cover picture is courtesy of the
GuildhallLibrary,CorporationofLondon.
Thematterofcapitalizationistrickythroughout(andalwayshasbeen).TheOxfordManual
ofStyledifferentiatesbetween‘Impressionis/m,-t,-tic’whichis‘aspecificartisticmovement
orstyleofmusicorwriting’andtheuncapitalized‘generaltendencyorstyle’.However,Ihave
seenavarietyofotherusages,andmyscriptchangesthereforeattempttodifferentiatebetween
‘Impressionist’(whichIhaveusedtorefertototheartisticmovementandspecificworksby
Monet,Degas,etc.)and‘impressionist’whichhasbeenusedforworkthatislesseasilyidentified
assuch.Ihaven’tcapitalizedliteraryimpressionism(orliteraryimpressionists)asIthinkthis
givesthemisleadingimplicationthatimpressionistwriterswereacoherentschoolorgrouping.
I’vetriedtoapplyasimilardistinctionwhereSymbolismisconcernedinanattempttodif-
ferentiatebetweenthosewritersSymonsandothersterm‘Symbolists’(Huysmans,Maeterlinck,
etc)andthemorevague‘symbolist’whichI’veusedalotlessprecisely.Ithinkthisisinlinewith
wideracademicuseoftheterm,whichseemsremarkablyvagueandcontradictory.
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Contents
ListofIllustrations xi
Introduction:TheProblemofLondon 1
AccumulatingImpressions 1
TheCityoftheWorld 4
PassingtheBaton 19
BeingRealistic 26
1. ‘InclusionandConfusion’:EmpiricistLondon 35
FactversusFiction 36
DealingwithDickens(andZola) 43
‘Arestrictednumberofnaturalfacts’:Londonunderthe
Microscope 47
SlummingIt 54
TellingTales 65
‘Owot’orridlangwidge’:TalkingtotheCockneys 70
TheExactKnowledgeofSherlockHolmes 80
StorieswithoutEnds 86
2. ShadowsandFog:ImpressionistLondon 89
‘ThealmostawfulclarityofHenryJames’ 89
PaternalPrompting 97
FloatinglikeaButterfly:Whistler 103
ImpressionistCityscapes 112
ImitatingWhistler 118
ImitatingMonet 129
‘Fleetingandtransitorythings’:SpeedingLondon 134
TowardstheWithin 143
3. ‘Thatuntravell’dworld’:SymbolistLondon 147
DoorsintheWall 147
MysteriesandInitiations 149
FashioningtheSymbol 170
RealistVeils 181