Fairy Tales of London : British Urban Fantasy, 1840 to the Present

From the time of Charles Dickens, the imaginative power of the city of London has frequently inspired writers to their most creative flights of fantasy. Charting a new history of London fantasy writing from the Victorian era to the twenty-first century, Fairy Tales of London explores a powerful tradition of urban fantasy distinct from the rural tales of writers such as J. R. R. Tolkien. Hadas Elber-Aviram traces this urban tradition from Dickens, through the scientific romances of H. G. Wells, the anti-fantasies of George Orwell and Mervyn Peake to contemporary science fiction and fantasy writers such as Michael Moorcock, Neil Gaiman and China Miéville. Finalist for the 2022 Mythopoeic Scholarship Award for Myth and Fantasy Studies From the time of Charles Dickens, the imaginative power of the city of London has frequently inspired writers to their most creative flights of fantasy. Charting a new history of London fantasy writing from the Victorian era to the 21st century, Fairy Tales of London explores a powerful tradition of urban fantasy distinct from the rural tales of writers such as J.R.R. Tolkien. Hadas Elber-Aviram traces this urban tradition from Dickens, through the scientific romances of H.G. Wells, the anti-fantasies of George Orwell and Mervyn Peake to contemporary science fiction and fantasy writers such as Michael Moorcock, Neil Gaiman and China Miéville. "From the time of Charles Dickens, the imaginative power of the city of London has frequently inspired writers to their most creative flights of fantasy. Charting a new history of London fantasy writing from the Victorian era to the 21st century, Fairy Tales of London explores a powerful tradition of urban fantasy distinct from the rural tales of writers such as J.R.R. Tolkien. Hadas Elber-Aviram traces this urban tradition from Dickens, through the scientific romances of H.G. Wells, the anti-fantasies of George Orwell and Mervyn Peake to contemporary science fiction and fantasy writers such as Michael Moorcock, Neil Gaiman and China Miv̌ille."-- Provided by publisher From the time of Charles Dickens, the imaginative power of the city of London has frequently inspired writers to their most creative flights of fantasy. Charting a new history of London fantasy writing from the Victorian era to the 21st century, Fairy Tales of London explores a powerful tradition of urban fantasy distinct from the rural tales of writers such as J.R.R. Tolkien. Hadas Elber-Aviram traces this urban tradition from Dickens, through the scientific romances of H.G. Wells, the anti-fantasies of George Orwell and Mervyn Peake to contemporary science fiction and fantasy writers such as Michael Moorcock, Neil Gaiman and China Mieville Title Page 4 Copyright Page 5 Dedication Page 6 Contents 8 Figures 9 Acknowledgements 10 Credits and permissions 12 Note on texts 13 Abbreviations 14 Introduction: A tale of two fantasies 16 Chapter 1: The phantom out of Oxford Street: Dickens’s fairyland 42 Chapter 2: The Martian on Primrose Hil: lWells’s scientific romances 76 Chapter 3: The bells of lost London: Orwell’s and Peake’s anti-fantasies 110 Chapter 4: A pyramid of flesh on Villiers Street: New Worlds magazine and the Jerry Cornelius myth 146 Chapter 5: ‘My home, the city’: Secondary-World London 180 Notes 214 Bibliography 282 Index 306 Introduction A tale of two fantasies -- 1. The phantom out of Oxford Street: Dickens's fairyland -- 2. The Martian on Primrose Hill: Wells's scientific romances -- 3. The bells of lost London: Orwell's and Peake's anti-fantasies -- 4. A pyramid of flesh on Villiers Street: New Worlds magazine and the Jerry Cornelius myth 5. 'My home, the city': Secondary-world London