SYLLABUS
LONDON: BIOGRAPHY OF A CITY
Instructor Name: Katy Layton-Jones Contact Hrs: 40 Language of Instruction: English
LONDON, UK
COURSE DESCRIPTION The course proceeds chronologically through the history of London, from its Roman foundations to the impact of the Blitz and the ‘Swinging Sixties’. Using an array of primary and secondary sources, ranging from diaries to court proceedings, maps, newspaper journalism and paintings, we will trace the physical, social, cultural and political evolution of this historic city and the people who have populated it.
COURSE OBJECTIVES Students who successfully complete this course will: • Know the main social and political aspects and chronology of London’s history. • Have developed an understanding of how London, its people and government have responded to both internal and external pressures. • Have demonstrated knowledge, analytical skills, and communication through essays, an exam and a short project. • Have visited the Museum of London outside class time in preparation for the midterm assignment
INSTRUCTIONAL METHODOLOGY The course combines class sessions, walking tour classes, and visits to historical sites. In some instances we will meet at the destination. On those occasions, we will meet just beyond the barrier at the underground station indicated. You will want to bring a small notebook. Be on time as we will depart promptly – check www.tfl.gov.uk for up-to-date travel information (delays and engineering works are common). The walks will take place in all but the most extreme weather conditions so come suitably dressed. All rules applicable in the classroom also apply to the walks: no smoking and no mobile phone use from the moment we set off.
METHOD OF EVALUATION (GRADING) Midterm: The Museum of London provides a chronological journey through the City’s history making use of reconstructions and artifacts. You will need to visit the museum before the Midterm to
LONDON London: Biography of a City (Layton-Jones) – Pre-Freshman SAMPLE
select the artifacts for your assignment. The nearest underground stations are St. Paul’s and Barbican. The midterm is a take home assignment. Due date: Monday 1st August 2016. Please bring a hard copy to class.
Final Exam: The final exam is a standard essay-style test paper. You will be given 12 questions to choose from and you will answer 2. The exam is intended to give you the opportunity to focus on the period of London’s past that interests you the most.
Project - London Real and Imagined: London is one of the most represented cities in the world. Images, texts, maps and films document its changing appearance and character. However, as with any subject, the image that we are presented with is often manipulated, corrupted and semi-fictionalized. Focusing on one fictional representation of London, each student is to produce a 3-5 page assignment exploring the way in which the source they have chosen has contributed to the reputation of the real city. Sources chosen might include a short Sherlock Holmes story, The Picture of Dorian Gray (book or film), Whistler’s views of the Thames etc. We can discuss various options in class but please ensure that the source is of academic quality, i.e. no Disney films or overly-satirical popular cartoons etc. They must also be historical, so nothing set/focused upon a post-1990 subject. You should begin this project at the earliest possible date as it requires some thought. Due date: Day of the final test.
Basis of Course Grade: Class participation* 15% Midterm 25% Real and Imagined 30% Final exam 30%
*It is assumed that a student will be on time for all classes, including walks. Absences and persistent lateness will be noted and the final grade reduced accordingly. Discretion may be exercised in the case of illness.
COURSE OUTLINE
Londinium: The birth of a city. Lecture Reading: Roy Porter, London: A Social History (1994) Chapter 1: Introduction www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=45021
Early London: the language of power in the townscape. Lecture followed by walking tour into the City of London Reading: Roy Porter, London: A Social History (1994) Chapter 2: Formation to Reformation
Early Modern London: Plague, fire and rebirth. Lecture followed by walking tour from the Monument to St. Paul’s Cathedral Reading: Roy Porter, London: A Social History (1994) Chapter 4: War, Plague and Fire John Evelyn's diary entries on the Fire of London (1666) available on http://www.pepysdiary.com/indepth/archive/2009/09/02/evelyns_fire.php
LONDON London: Biography of a City (Layton-Jones) – Pre-Freshman SAMPLE
Georgian London Part I: Pleasure and Leisure. Lecture Reading: Roy Porter, London: A Social History (1994) Chapter 7: Culture City: Life under the Georges. Reading: Penelope Corfield, Vauxhall and the Invention of the Urban Pleasure Gardens (2008). Availablein your reading pack. Harris’s List of Covent Garden Ladies at: http://www.bl.uk/collection-items/harriss-list-of-covent- garden-ladies-an-18th-century-guide-to-prostitutes
Georgian London Part II: Vice and the Virtue. Lecture followed by visit to the Docklands Museum Midterm due. Reading: Poverty in Georgian Britain at: http://www.bl.uk/georgian-britain/articles/poverty-in-georgian-britain Prepare for the Museum visit by looking at ‘London, Sugar, and Slavery’ at: http://www.museumoflondon.org.uk/museum-london-docklands/permanent-galleries/london-sugar- slavery
Victorian London Part I: Empire and exhibitions. Lecture followed by walking tour in South Kensington Reading: Roy Porter, London: A Social History (1994) Chapter 9: ‘The Contagion of Numbers’: The Building of the Victorian Capital 1820 – 1890’. ‘The Great Exhibition’ at: http://www.vam.ac.uk/page/g/great-exhibition/ and http://www.bl.uk/victorian-britain/articles/the-great-exhibition
Victorian London Part II: Decadence and decline. Lecture Reading: Roy Porter, London: A Social History (1994) Chapter 12: Victorian Life. Blanchard Jerrold and Gustave Doré, ‘Whitechapel and Thereabouts’ from London: A Pilgrimage (1872) available on http://www.victorianlondon.org/publications/pilgrimage-18.htm Finlo Rohrer, ‘Does Cable Street still matter?’ at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/5405598.stm
World Wars and legacy. Lecture followed by walk in Whitehall Reading: Roy Porter, London: A Social History (1994) pp. 411-418.
LONDON London: Biography of a City (Layton-Jones) – Pre-Freshman SAMPLE
Visit to Greenwich by boat. Meet at Embankment tube station Reading: Roy Porter, London: A Social History (1994) Chapter 3: Tudor London
Visit to Churchill War Rooms. Meet at Westminster tube station Reading: ‘A short history of the Cabinet War Rooms’ at: http://www.iwm.org.uk/history/a-short-history-of-the- cabinet-war-rooms
Final Test. Real and Imagined project due. Reading: Revision chronology at: http://www.londonhistory.co.uk/
COURSE READINGS • Roy Porter, London: A Social History (1994). • Reading packs and various links
Books held in the GEO London Library – These are the more general accounts, and there are some others that look at particular areas. • Wilson, A. N. London: a short history • Hibbert, Christopher. London: the biography of a city • Porter, Roy. London: a social history • Kynaston, David. The City of London • Ackroyd, Peter. London: a biography • Tames, R. A Travellers. History of London • Merriman, N. (ed). The Peopling of London • Hitchcock, T. & Shore, H. (eds). The Streets of London, c.1660-1850 • FitzStephen, William. Norman London • Picard, Liza. Elizabeth’s London • Restoration London • John Summerson, Georgian London • George, M. Dorothy. London life in the eighteenth-century • Picard, Liza. Dr. Johnson’s London • Mayhew, Henry. London Labour & the London Poor • Horrall, A. Popular culture in London, 1840-1918 • Bloom, C. Violent London • Lineburgh, P. The London Hanged • Walkowitz, J. City of Dreadful Delight • Schneer, J. London 1900
LONDON London: Biography of a City (Layton-Jones) – Pre-Freshman SAMPLE
• White, Jerry. London in the Eighteenth-century • London in the Nineteenth-century • London in the Twentieth-century • Ziegler, P. London at War • Waller, M. London 1945 • O’Neil, Gilda. My East End • Davis & Anderson, Inside Notting Hill.
LONDON London: Biography of a City (Layton-Jones) – Pre-Freshman SAMPLE