Home and Identity in Nineteenth-Century Literary London - (Edinburgh Critical Studies in Victorian Culture) by Lisa C Robertson (Paperback)

About the Book

This book brings together a range of new models for modern living that emerged in response to social and economic changes in nineteenth-century London, and the literature that gave expression to their novelty.

Book Synopsis

Explores radical designs for the home in the nineteenth-century metropolis and the texts that shaped them
Uncovers a series of innovative housing designs that emerged in response to London's rapid growth and expansion throughout the nineteenth century Brings together the writing of prominent authors such as Charles Dickens and George Gissing with understudied novels and essays to examine the lively literary engagement with new models of urban housing Focuses on the ways that these new homes provided material and creative space for thinking through the relationship between home and identity Identifies ways in which we might learn from the creative responses to the nineteenth-century housing crisis

This book brings together a range of new models for modern living that emerged in response to social and economic changes in nineteenth-century London, and the literature that gave expression to their novelty. It examines visual and literary representations to explain how these innovations in housing forged opportunities for refashioning definitions of home and identity. Robertson offers readers a new blueprint for understanding the ways in which novels imaginatively and materially produce the city's built environment.

From the Back Cover

Explores radical designs for the home in the nineteenth-century metropolis and the texts that shaped them This book brings together a range of new models for modern living that emerged in response to social and economic changes in nineteenth-century London, and the literature that gave expression to their novelty. It examines visual and literary representations to explain how these innovations in housing forged opportunities for refashioning definitions of home and identity. Robertson offers readers a new blueprint for understanding the ways in which novels imaginatively and materially produce the city's built environment. Lisa C. Robertson is Lecturer in Women's and Gender Studies at Acadia University in Wolfville, Nova Scotia.

Review Quotes

Lisa Robertson tells a compelling story about the late nineteenth century that still speaks to us today: about the relationship between literary representation, dwelling spaces, the city, women, community and class relations. She breathes new life into forgotten texts and conjures the experiments in living and new architectural models that inspired and were inspired by them.-- "Deborah Epstein Nord, Princeton University"

This impressive and important book makes valuable contributions to our understanding of interrelated developments in architecture, the urban environment, class, and gender in the period. The book will highly impress anyone interested in late-nineteenth and early-twentieth century British women's writing, urban space, and the built environment.--Ruth M. McAdams, Skidmore College "Review 19"

About the Author

Lisa C. Robertson is Lecturer in Women's and Gender Studies at Acadia University in Wolfville, Nova Scotia. She is co-editor of Margaret Harkness: Writing Social Engagement, 1880-1921 (MUP, 2019).