|
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 "Acknowledgements" -- "Contents" -- "Introduction" -- "Part I Sound and Time" -- "Chapter 1 Waiting for the Sound: Noise, Time, and the News" -- "Individual and Communal Experience of Time" -- "Hearing the News in Conradâs The Secret Agent" -- "Signalling the Moment in Fordâs A Man Could Stand up" -- "Part II Sound and Social Progress" -- "Chapter 2 Speakers, Listeners, and the Power of the Platform" -- "Some Platform Performers in Besant, James, Conrad, and Harkness" -- "Speakers and the Sound of Social Class" -- "Listeners and the âWild Beast Roarâ of the Crowd" -- "Part III Sound and Popular Culture" -- "Chapter 3 âCanât It Be Stopped?ââLondon and the Popular Tone" -- "The Clang of Triviality: Perceptions of the Popular" -- "Music of the Streets and Suburbs" -- "Music Hall and the Comic Tone" -- "Part IV Sound and Space" -- "Chapter 4 Silence, the Suburbs, and LifeâBeyond the Cityâ" -- "Jefferies and the End of London" -- "Chesterton and the âHorrible Silence of Modernityâ" -- "Travelling Beyond the City" -- "Conclusion" -- "Bibliography
|
