Reviewed by: Stereoscopic London: Plays of Oscar Wilde, Bernard Shaw and Arthur Wing Pinero in the 1890s by Gül Kurtuluş Mary Christian (bio) Stereoscopic London: Plays of Oscar Wilde, Bernard Shaw and Arthur Wing Pinero in the 1890s, by Gül Kurtuluş; pp. 182. Berlin: Peter Lang, 2020, $48.95. In Stereoscopic London: Plays of Oscar Wilde, Bernard Shaw and Arthur Wing Pinero in the 1890s, Gül Kurtuluş examines late-Victorian theatrical depictions of metropolitan life in the works of three prominent turn-of-the-century dramatists, paying special attention to "the idea of community as formulated by the needs and requirements of its members" (14). Each of the three main chapters focuses on one well-known play: Oscar Wilde's Lady Windermere's Fan (1892), Arthur Wing Pinero's The Second Mrs. Tanqueray (1893), and George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion (1912). The chapters also give secondary attention to other works by the respective dramatists. Along with detailed close readings of the dramatic texts themselves, Kurtuluş draws attention to the London locations portrayed or mentioned in the plays. Some of the neighborhood information she provides is unsurprising—the average reader will probably already know that Mayfair is a posh London district and that Hoxton is not. However, some of these location notes will likely be new to many readers and might suggest new ideas regarding the subtexts of certain scenes. For example, Kurtuluş points out that Clerkenwell, the district inhabited by the troupe of actors in Trelawny of the "Wells" (1898), was an area with centuries of theatrical history, dating back to performances of mystery plays in the Middle Ages—a fact that might well enhance one's enjoyment of Pinero's play, with its themes of nostalgia and theatrical evolution. The book's introduction declares an interest in "the rules imposed by urban society" and the ways in which these rules are dramatized in the selected plays (14). The rules that receive the most attention throughout the book are the demands for women's sexual purity (or at least the appearance of purity), the adherence to prescribed gender roles, and the distinctions between different levels in the social class hierarchy. The author notes numerous details of plot, dialogue, and character that reflect the plays' preoccupation with these social requirements. These analyses, however, might lead readers to ask: If Londoners of this period were made to follow strict expectations regarding gender, sex, and class, then to what extent were these rules and hypocrisies unique to London? In what ways were demands for female chastity in London, and the way such demands were enforced, distinct from the conditions of smaller towns and rural areas? Kurtuluş acknowledges the need to address this question, or nearly acknowledges it, in the analysis of The Second Mrs. Tanqueray. She suggests that the Tanquerays' unhappy migration from London to Surrey illustrates that "a shift in setting . . . does not provide a remedy for the Victorian social diseases of class division and repressive morality that infect all the city's inhabitants" (95). The chapter's conclusion adds that "nineteenthcentury London and Victorian Britain in general evinced a quite hypocritical sense of morality and justice" (96). Many scholars of nineteenth-century literature would easily agree with this statement. The book, however, offers no clear response to the obvious follow-up question: If this hypocrisy is characteristic of Britain in this period, what sets London apart? Readers are left to wonder if Kurtuluş is writing a book about theatrical depictions of London or about theatrical depictions of Victorian class hierarchy and sexual mores more generally. [End Page 482] If the title's emphasis on "London" seems incompletely explained by the book as a whole, the Shaw chapter raises questions regarding the time period designated as the book's focus, "the 1890s." Shaw was active as a theater critic and dramatist during the 1890s, but this activity is scarcely mentioned. Instead the chapter focuses on Pygmalion and a handful of other plays—Man and Superman (1903), The Doctor's Dilemma (1906), and Heartbreak House (1919)—all of which were written and set in the twentieth century. These plays offer valuable insights on London, and certainly comment more explicitly on...
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Sep 13, 2024
Jessica Kearney + 4
Open Access