London in the Time of Dickens

Overview

Course No. 20060
Trace the unique relationship between Charles Dickens and the city he called home, with a literary tour of 19th-century London.

By the Victorian era, London had become a city of stark contrasts – a bustling hub of culture and innovation, yet also a place of poverty and child labor. Charles Dickens, who spent most of his life in this rapidly expanding metropolis, captured these complexities in his novels and journalism. This 12-lecture course with Professor Lillian Nayder explores:

• How Dickens’s own rags-to-riches life informed classics like Oliver Twist
• The social reforms and urban challenges of Victorian London
• The city’s role as both setting and character in Dickens’s work

Video Lectures

1. A Tale of Two Londons (31 min)
   Explore the divided city that inspired Dickens’s works and what remains today.
2. Crime and Punishment, London Style (32 min)
   Dickens’s contradictory views on crime mirror ongoing societal debates.
3. Sexes and the City (32 min)
   The gendered divide between public and private spaces in Victorian culture.
4. Growing Up like Nell and Oliver (31 min)
   How child protagonists amplify Dickens’s social critiques.
5. London’s Sublime Wilderness (30 min)
   The value of natural spaces in an increasingly industrialized city.
6. London Fog (29 min)
   The environmental and spiritual impact of pollution in Dickens’s London.
7. Engineering London (30 min)
   Victorian infrastructure projects that transformed the city.
8. London Past, Present, and Future (31 min)
   Dickens as time traveler through London’s layered history.
9. Pleasures and Pains (30 min)
   The costs behind London’s entertainment and leisure activities.
10. The Heart of Empire (31 min)
    How Britain’s global influence manifested in Victorian London.
11. Legal London: Expense, Anxiety, Injustice (31 min)
    Dickens’s fascination with the legal system and its repercussions.
12. Dickens’s Own London (33 min)
    The author’s personal journey through the city’s social strata.