East London, within close proximity to the City of London, has been subject to intense regeneration in the last 15 years. There has been a range of academic and policy work dealing with the growth and expansion of East London. Stories of the East End have been captured enedlessly in plays, novels, social histories, and journalism. I am interested in the ways in which place is imagined; and places are often imagined powerfully in popular writing and oral testomonies. This is an idea or attempt to catalogue these texts.
Why East London?
Philanthropists and social reformers of all descriptions and political persuasions have historically come to East London to aid the plight of the poor – the white working classes and migrants to the City of London. The startling interest in philanthropy in this part of London has led to the making of a public identity of the East End, one that has been forged from written documents, reports and books – e.g. the press reports on Jack the Ripper in 1888 or Charles Booth and Jack London’s popular chronicles of the East End and its poverty. The attention is welcome at times but it can also be overwhelming, as Phil Cohen (1996) says:
“No area in Britain has been more written about, more exploited as a source and site for the projection of public anxieties about proletarian combination or sexual promiscuity, the state of the nation or the degeneration of the race”
It occurred to me for some time to start cataloguing popular voices that might contest what has traditionally been written on the East End. I wasn’t sure where it’s been documented but the net is a good place as any and might just provide access to others like me who’re interested in this fascinating part of London. It’s a start – and when I have some spare time I may try and do more than post a note on the net.
Adams, C. (1987) Across Seven Seas and Thirteen Rivers (Eastside)
Forman, C. (1989) Spitalfields, A Fight for Land
Lichtenstein, R., Sinclair, I., (1999) Rodinsky’s Room (Granta)
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