In the transition from the late medieval period to Early Modernity London turned into the most important European metropolis. Its increase in population was conditioned by, but also an expression of, major demographic, political and socio-economic changes that are reflected in a number of literary texts that specifically deal with the matter of London and the challenges a crowded, big city poses. These concern not only questions of social hierarchies and differentiation in the transition from feudalism to absolutism and the rise of a pre-Capitalist bourgeoisie and merchant class, but also the placement of the individual within shifting forms of community and the burgeoning of an early-modern subjectivity in the contexts of a courtly society and/or a newly-forming bureaucracy and state apparatus. The course will focus on how these issues are dealt with across the genres of poetry, drama and prose where the representation of London also enabled the rise of new and differently gendered voices in literature. Faced with the matter of London, these texts show a new consciousness for the importance of space and place and develop strategies for representing place in literature.
Please be aware that this class will be held as a weekly three-hour course, combining the two-hour seminar with the one-hour reading course.
- Kursverantwortliche/r: André Otto