Wolfreys (English and comparative literature, U. of California-Irvine) looks at how 19th London writers responded to what was then the worlds largest and most rapidly expanding city. He applies literary theory, psychoanalysis, and architectural theory to a wide range of poetry, fiction, and autobiography. He finds apocalyptic, labyrinthine, and phobic modes of representation. He also includes a photographic gallery of buildings and architectural features. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or. Beginning with an introductory survey of the variety of literary representations and responses to the city, and the relations between self and urban space, Writing London follows the shaping of the urban consciousness from William Blake to Charles Dickens and through readings of Shelley, Barbauld, Byron, DeQuincy, Engels and Wordsworth. It concludes with an afterword which, in developing insights into the relationship between writing and the city, questions the heritage industrys reinvention of London, while arguing for a new understanding of the urban spirit.
