London as Literature: The Early Modern C

This undergraduate seminar course examines the ways in which early modern London portrayed itself: at the public amphitheater and private indoor theaters, in civic and royal rituals, and in popular pamphlet literature.  Throughout the course, we will be engaging with the spatial realities of early modern London, working with the interactive online Map of Early Modern London.  We will explore how key sites of the capital (the Royal Exchange, the Guildhall, the Thames, Covent Garden, the theatres) came to hold meaning for Londoners, and in so doing, we will examine how London’s sense of itself came to be shaped its relationship with the crown, with the country, with commerce, with foreigners, and so on.  The course covers key events of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries; texts studied will include plays and other theatrical events, pamphlet literature, and maps, as well as some contemporary scholarly work. Students will be required to produce a final paper that traces the history and some literary representations of a single London site.

The course will include visits to important historical sites in London and Westminster (St Paul’s Cathedral, Covent Garden, Whitehall) as well as the Museum of London, the Museum of London-Docklands, and Guildhall Art Gallery. If possible, the syllabus will be adapted to include one play being staged at London’s Globe Theatre, and one being staged at the Sam Wanamaker Theatre, to give students a sense of two of the main stages of early modern London, the open amphitheater and the indoor playhouse.