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In the course of the eighteenth century, London became Europe’s largest city. As it grew in terms of size and wealth as well as cultural and political importance, it attracted more and more visitors from the continent. Some of these early tourists wrote about their time in London. As these texts were written from an outsider’s perspective, they cover a wide range of aspects of everyday life in Europe’s first modern metropolis, including things no Londoner would have bothered to describe. This course will give you ample opportunity to get acquainted with such accounts. Some of these were written by well-known authors (such as Giacomo Casanova), and others by forgotten early tourists who are nevertheless worth rediscovering. In addition to texts written by visitors from abroad, some English authors created imaginary visitors commenting on life in London. Some of these texts (such as Oliver Goldsmith’s Citizen of the World, in which London is seen through the eyes of a Chinese visitor) will also be covered.
A reader will be made available well in advance of the semester (Copyshop Reckhammerweg 4). As always: read, think, enjoy (!!), annotate (!) and look things up if necessary. Requirements: regular attendance, reading the assigned texts, active participation, and written work according to your particular Studienordnung. |
