Blog Post 2

The Victorian Era’s deep fascination with mystery and thrilling deception was one of the topics that has really resonated with me over the course of our semester. The class was fortunate enough to see these themes first hand during our tour of the Sherlock Holmes Museum and during the experience we did as well. This picture of the Sherlock Holmes statue was taken just outside of the exhibit,  representing a figure whose history in Victorian age literature perfectly resembles the art of mystery and deception.

Arthur Conan Doyle, the author of the Sherlock Holmes series, manipulated the fascinations of mystery and deception during the Victorian Area. Within Doyle’s short story, A Scandal in Bohemia, Sherlock Holmes is tasked by a German king to use his skills to trick a woman who has an important document which the King desperately wants. The woman ends up outsmarting Sherlock and manipulating his ego to her advantage. During the Victorian Area it was unheard of for a woman to be so manipulative and outsmart such a prominent figure. This piece was really before its time, which generated such fascination from people. The thrilling mystery in each Sherlock Holmes story mixed with such an unheard of deception really made Doyle's work so well known.

During the Holmes experience this victorian age thrill was brought to life, as the class was put into a Sherlock Holmes mystery experience. The reason the concept of mystery was so prominent during the Victorian Age and still is today is because it has an addictive aspect to it. People were fascinated with Doyle's work because he always had his readers questioning the piece and searching for more. He created a discussion which caused a massive following for his work. The Victorian ages's fascination with unpredictable mysteries followed by an unimaginable sequence of events has carried into present day as we see current media giants like Netflix and HBO continue to produce work which hold these qualities.

"steamypunk" -Josh Klein

I found the experience to Camden Market for class incredibly interesting and exemplary of what our class discussion involved. I had actually ventured to Camden Market one of the first days in London with my roommates and was intrigued, confused, yet also wowed. The things being sold at the market as well as the overall attitude and vibe of stall and shop owners was something I hadn’t seen at the various outdoor markets I have attended; it is actually really funny to look back on my trip to the market and to see pictures of different vendors and even Josh Klein in a traditional steampunk hat. Overall, I found the fact that the Victorian themes and Steampunk dress were relevant and represented throughout the entire market to be fascinating. I think the style and themes are actually so engaging because it’s something I would never be into or bold enough to actually take part in but per our conversation in class - I admire. I admire the boldness and daring attitude to be oneself and dress and act freely to be inspiring. Although shops at Camden might sell dress and hats, they truly sell an aura, an experience, and an attitude with the traditional or updated traditional garb. The attitude and daring personality that goes along with the steampunk era is arguably what has stood the test of time through stylistic peaks and troughs.

As discussed in the class presentation, I was able to see the mix of old and industrial by engaging with different shops and owners and by observing the infrastructure and layout of the physical market. Older themed shops are mixed with pop up chains as well as the structural components such as wood, metal, and cobblestone.

The physicality of Camden Market plays into themes of Victorian imagination because the space feels so different and removed from anywhere else is London and is so far off from the South Bank vibe one in modern day associated with the city; the fact that you have to spend some time on the tube adds to the imaginative and immersive experience when you transition from inner city London to Camden Town. The name Camden Town also suggests your tube stop isn’t just halting at Westminster or Temple but rather taking you to a new town - something much more than just a tube stop.

Blog Post 2

Josh Klein                                                                                                                Blog Post 2

One trip that I found to be particularly memorable was the trip that we took to Brompton Road Cemetery. Typically a cemetery does not come to mind when I think of a place to go visit unless I am visiting someone who I have lost; this is what made it particularly memorable. The part that made this trip so unique was how I felt while I was there and how a place that is filled with death could be inviting the way that it was. In class, we learned that the lifespan of people during the Victorian era was very short. It was 44 years for males in the middle and upper class and it was in the early 20’s for tradesman and laborers. It was interesting to learn that Brompton Road Cemetery was one of seven that had been created to help bury people who had died from disease. It was also interesting to see how the different gravestones are representative of different things. In class, we learned that a gravestone that was a broken column is representative of a life cut short, and that an anchor indicated hope for families. It was very interesting to see a number of each of these in the cemetery.

        One part of the song by Christina Rossetti that I found to be particularly interesting was “Be the green grass above me, With showers and dewdrops wet; And if thou wilt, remember, And if thou wilt, forget.”. This series of lines stood out to me while I was walking through the vast cemetery due to the fact that when standing at one end of the cemetery, you can not help but to notice the green grass that covers the ground. It is when you begin to walk down the paths and through the cemetery that you notice just how many bodies that are buried there. While the bodies lie peacefully and the grass makes the grounds seem pleasant, it was tough for me to overlook the fact that the space was filled with death. Additionally, it was interesting to me how I could learn about the individuals buried from their gravestones. For example, the man who had founded Chelsea Football Club had the team’s logo on his gravestone, and another man who was a pilot in the army had an image of him blowing up a blimp engraved on his. This stood out to me because the legends of those men will live on with their stories being told and retold to help remember them, but as time goes on, the memory of what those individuals were actually like gets forgotten. That reality is what made those lines from Rossetti’s song stick out to me while reflecting on my trip to the cemetery.

        The last thing that stood out to me on this trip was how there was a café at the entrance to

the cemetery. The café was inviting and seemed cheery and happy yet it was on the border of a

place that was filled with the aura of death. Additionally, while the cemetery itself was very quiet and

peaceful, Stamford Bridge stadium, where Chelsea Football Club plays its home matches is just

behind the far right end of the grounds. The stadium is clearly visible from the cemetery once you

reach the far end as it towers over everything. The stadium is known to get very rowdy during games

and that contrast between the rowdiness of the crowd in the stadium, and the stillness of those who

were laid to rest in Brompton Road Cemetery was interesting to me. Overall, this trip was not the

most fun, but it was one where I felt that I learned a lot, and was able to gain insight into death

culture during the Victorian era.

Defining the Steampunk Subculture in Camden Market

In our visit to Camden Market, I was able to engage more with the reading for this week, as well as more clearly understand steampunk as a literary style, fashion, and overall aesthetic. Contrary to common opinion, steampunk is not simply clothing with metal elements or goggles attached to an otherwise Victorian-looking hat, but a style that can be recognized in many different mediums. Walking around Camden, one discovers that steampunk is one of many recognizable cult fashions that are represented in the area. You can walk into stores that cater to incredibly complex and impossibly specific variations of the same niche, including: goth, punk, cyberpunk, cybergoth, hippy, hipster, etc. Experiencing these other subcultures in the same area helps present steampunk in a different light. These subcultures are more than fashion or art, they hold within them their own way of looking at the world that often focuses or exaggerates the developments and sentiments of a specific era.

While the artwork in “The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen” presents an otherworldly exaggeration of industrialism, Camden market reflects many aspects of the comic in its function and layout. In the comic, the futuristic vision of London is characterized by a diverse mix of cultures that the characters must interact with to complete their mission. Various cultures including Arab and Chinese are portrayed in rigid caricatures, the comic employing stereotypes that may have been present in Victorian England. Furthermore, London itself is presented as an eclectic and diverse cultural center with each chapter highlighting a different neighborhood. When visiting Camden, one finds a similar environment. There are stores and kiosks that hold an incredible diversity of cultural influences, all contained within just a couple of city blocks. The space itself has many elements that speak to the steampunk style. Unlike many parts of London, there are no glass skyscrapers or sprawling digital advertisements attracting attention. The market is built around old brick buildings, and the natural rusted features of the locks and the railway. While these elements are far from the steampunk utopia presented in “The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen”, they elicit the same sentiments toward industrialism, cultural diversity, and futurism that one finds in the comic.

Source: Moore, Alan. “The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.” Illustrated by Kevin O'Neill, vol. 1, DC Comics, 1999.

Robert Louis Stevenson, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, 1886; Victorian Ambiguity in The East End walking tour

Although the plot of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde never reaches what would be considered the east side of London, it does portray certain attributes of London that are more relevant to the east side. Our tour guide of the East Side Tour reflected on some of the themes present in Robert Louis Stevenson’s short novel Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. The discussion of Charles Dickens' ability to facilitate London in his classic novels was especially interesting as it coordinates well while thinking about any author depicting Victorian London. Better yet, the areas on London that we visited during the tour were relevant to moments in various Dickens' novels that perpetuate the eerie mysteriousness often associated with the darker side of the city. After reading a decent amount of Dickens' last summer, in preparation for coming to London, the moments that the guide brought Dickens' novels up were really interesting to me. It’s hard to completely miss the way that Dickens' is able to portray the dark underbelly of London so vividly and lively through detail; However, without a certain back-knowledge into London’s two-thousand-year history, and more relevant, its Victorian Era history, it is hard to imagine these scenes with the same amount of depth and insight. The one specific moment of the tour that really struck me, as it highlighted the theme of mysterious and monstrous London, was when our tour guide pointed out the area under the London Bridge where a murder takes place in Oliver Twist; that murder represented an important variety of thematic and narrative roles in the novel, but for the purpose of this blog, it represents the struggle to be good, and the dark side of London perpetuating the ambiguities in human nature between “good” and “evil.” Which! Brings us back to Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Another important Victorian novel that orients us in the world of Victorian London; it is a world where people struggle with “good” and “bad;” a world where the dark, mysterious, side of London pushes Dr. Jekyll to separate the duality of his nature completely, and, in contrast to Nancy, submit himself to the underlying forces that the east side of Victorian London brings out in people.