The Literary Psychogeography of London: Otherworlds of Alan Moore, Peter Ackroyd, and Iain Sinclair (Literary Urban Studies)

This Pivot book examines literary elements of urban topography that have animated Alan Moore, Peter Ackroyd, and Iain Sinclair’s respective representations of London-ness. Ann Tso argues these authors write London “psychogeographically” to deconstruct popular visions of London with colonial and neoliberal undertones. Moore’s psychogeography consists of bird’s-eye views that reveal the brute force threatening to unravel Londonscape from within; Ackroyd’s aims to detect London sensuously, since every new awareness recalls an otherworldly London; Sinclair’s conjures up a narrative consciousness made erratic by London’s disunified landscape. Drawing together the dystopian, the phenomenological, and the postcolonial, Tso explores how these texts characterize “London-ness” as estranging. Preface 6 Acknowledgments 8 Praise for The Literary Psychogeography of London 9 Contents 10 List of Figures 11 1 Infinite London: The London-ness of London 12 Psychogeography and Literary London 17 The Situationist Movement: Empiricism and the Flâneur Question 26 Aesthetics and Subjectivity; Literariness and Surrealism 30 Reading London-Ness in Context 32 References 37 2 The Disintegration of London in Alan Moore’s Psychogeography 40 From Hell: English History as Jack the Ripper Tells It 41 Jerusalem: The Quest for the Fourth Dimension, Continued 54 Conclusion: Parochial Psychogeography 65 References 66 3 Peter Ackroyd’s Sensuous Detective Method in Hawksmoor 69 The Water City: Commodifying Linear Time 73 London in Sensuous/Psychogeographic Time 78 Conclusion 88 References 89 4 Writing Psychogeography, Writing London Through a Screen Darkly: White Chappell, Scarlet Tracings 91 References 114 5 London-ness: A Marriage of the Literary and the Psychogeographical 117 Reference 120 Index 121 "This Pivot examines literary elements of urban topography that have animated Alan Moore, Peter Ackroyd, and Iain Sinclair's respective representations of London-ness. Ann Tso argues these authors write London 'psychogeographically' to deconstruct popular visions of London with colonial and neoliberal undertones. Moore's psychogeography consists of bird's-eye views that reveal the brute force threatening to unravel Londonscape from within; Ackroyd's aims to detect London sensuously, since every new awareness recalls an otherworldly London; Sinclair's conjures up a narrative consciousness made erratic by London's disunified landscape. Drawing together the dystopian, the phenomenological, and the postcolonial, Tso explores how these texts characterize 'London-ness' as estranging."--Provided by publisher Front Matter ....Pages i-xiii Infinite London: The London-ness of London (Ann Tso)....Pages 1-28 The Disintegration of London in Alan Moore’s Psychogeography (Ann Tso)....Pages 29-57 Peter Ackroyd’s Sensuous Detective Method in Hawksmoor (Ann Tso)....Pages 59-80 Writing Psychogeography, Writing London Through a Screen Darkly: White Chappell, Scarlet Tracings (Ann Tso)....Pages 81-106 London-ness: A Marriage of the Literary and the Psychogeographical (Ann Tso)....Pages 107-110 Back Matter ....Pages 111-116