Author: crookr1

Charing Cross in A Scandal in Bohemia

~ crookr1

In The Sherlock Holmes novel, “A ScaScreenshot (7)ndal in Bohemia”, Charing Cross/Charing Cross Station is merely mentioned in passing and is ultimately where Irene Adler escaped to with her newly wedded husband to some unknown location. In the story, the location has nothing to do with any crimes but it does add to the mystery that is Adler’s character. All in all, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle uses Charing Cross to his advantage in furthering Irene Adler’s elusive character. However, according to Old Bailey Online, an archive of the proceedings of London’s Central Criminal Court, at the time in real life there were many instances of theft/simple larceny. (Oldbailyonline.net)

To provide some background into the location, Charing Cross and Charing Cross Station are very close to The West Strand which, according to “The Historical Eye”, “In the eSoho_foyles_bookshop_1vening, the footpath on the right just outside Charing Cross station is occupied by a more or less regular road of energetic new tenders and somehow, standing here, one feels that one is in touch with the whole civilised world.” However, The West Strand today is described in a muchcharing cross station more negative light, “This part of the Strand is still one of London’s busiest streets, with Charing Cross station disgorging commuters in the morning and hoovering them back up in the evening.” (historicaleye.com)

According to the Booth Poverty Map, the residential areas around Charing Cross are all quite wealthy, which iScreenshot (8)s the case with many of the locations mentioned in “A Scandal in Bohemia”. (booth.lse.ac.uk)

 

 

Citations

“Booth Poverty Map & Modern Map (Charles Booth Online Archive).” Booth Poverty Map & Modern Map (Charles Booth Online Archive). N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Nov. 2015.

“The Historical Eye.” Fleet Street and Strand. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Nov. 2015.

“The Proceedings of the Old Bailey.” Results. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Nov. 2015.

~ crookr1

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Finding 19th century pieces of literature was a lot more difficult than I thought upon beginning this task. It took me a few days to find something, but then I came across Lady of the Tiger. The first seven pages involve multiple different types of marginalia ranging from underlining, to circling, to defining, and to annotating. For the purpose of the assignment I will be ignoring the marginalia written in ink because it does not date back pre-1923. On the first page there are quite a few notes in the margins and circled words with synonyms or definitions above them. The circled words with definitions beside them make me think that the reader could have been a student like me, or a non-native speaker who is simply trying to get more acquainted with the language. The reader also underlined important character traits and facts about events happening in the story rather than stylistic details. They might have been an amateur reader or perhaps knew exactly the information they needed for whatever the novel was being read for. For a collegiate level paper, a professor would be looking for more than just a summary of a novel, however. They would rather appreciate a paper geared toward how the author writes and how they portray the information underlined. So perhaps, if they were hypothetically a student, they would be at a lower level in their schooling than the college level. One note does however say “choice of language” on page 3 in regards to the first paragraph of that page. So the reader might have a higher set of critical and analytical skills than previously thought. Their thought process is really exposed though towards the middle of the same page when the reader talks of comparing and contrasting love and jealousy. The marginalia in the book I selected really gives us some insight into the mind of one individual of the Victorian Era.

 

Slang in Victorian London

~ crookr1 ~ 3 Comments

The words “Area-sneak”, “Cracksman”, and “Tuck-up Fair” all, surprisingly, have something in common; they are all part of Victorian slang from London, England. Upon first hearing of such wild and fantastical words and phrases, they sound almost too weird to be real. But in all honesty, some words used today in the 21st century are as nonsensical as theirs. Slang is only a testament of the creative and innovative nature of language throughout time. For example, in Victorian London there were sometimes handfuls of different ways to say the same phrase. So way back when, a man would not “go away” or “withdraw”; he would instead “bolt”, “slope”, “mizzle”, “make himself scarce”, “walk his chalk”, “make tracks”, “cut his stick”, or “cut his lucky”. Why does there need to be so many variations of the same saying? The world may never know, but such variety of language makes for a much more scintillating conversation. There was also slang specific to crime back in Victorian London, much like there is today. The terms “area-sneak”, “Cracksman” and “Tuck-up Fair” are examples of such jargon- their meanings being a thief who sneaks down areas to see what he can steal in kitchens, a burglar, and The Gallows respectively. Some have logical connections to their meanings, while others’ explanations could only make sense in a Victorian Londoner’s mind. Either way, the words and phrases spice up the language to make conversation more unique over time. Who knows what sayings will be created and reshaped over the next 100 years, hopefully the 21st century will have a (s)language as varying and creative as Victorian London’s.

Rachel Crook’s Introductory Post

~ crookr1 ~ 1 Comment

Hello, my name is Rachel and I’m a freshman. My current plan is to major in English with a concentration in creative writing but I have many academic interests such as art history, philosophy, and education. Outside of school I sell furniture at Libby’s in Torrington, CT- hit me up for some discounts on shipping- and I’m also a senior counselor at Boulder Ridge Day Camp. I hope to learn more about computers and to get to know you all in this class!

– Rachel