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The transforming city in nineteenth-century literary journalism: Ramón de Mesonero Romanos’ ‘Madrid scenes’ and Charles Dickens’ ‘Street sketches’

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 July 2018

CHRISTIANE SCHWAB
CHRISTIANE SCHWAB*
Affiliation:
Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, Institute of European Ethnology and Cultural Analysis, Oettingenstrasse 67, 80538 Munich, Germany
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Abstract:

Nineteenth-century urbanization and industrialization in western Europe have clearly contributed to the formation of societal knowledge and self-reflexive cultural iconographies. Especially from the 1820s onwards, one major context for discussing the social and cultural diversity of the city and concomitant socio-political tensions was the emerging market of journals and magazines. Based upon the writings of two exemplary authors, this article investigates with which techniques and metaphors nineteenth-century journalistic sketches depicted urban sociability and conditions. Furthermore, it reflects on how not only the ever more differentiating urban environments but also the proximity of different networks and institutions of knowledge encouraged the refinement of social observation and thought. Exploring a neglected genre of social knowledge production, the article proposes new perspectives for urban history and aims at stimulating a critical review of contemporary research practices in all branches of the social sciences.

Type
Research Article
Information
Urban History , Volume 46 , Issue 2 , May 2019 , pp. 225 - 245
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2018 

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References

1 New technologies of print and diffusion, the consolidation of large reading groups, the increasing liberalization of censorship and novel advertisement strategies prepared the ground for a large-scale production of periodicals in many European cities: Boening, J., ‘The unending conversation. The role of periodicals in England and on the continent during the Romantic age’, in Sondrup, S.P. and Nemoianu, V. (eds.), Nonfictional Romantic Prose. Expanding Borders (Amsterdam, 2004), 285–301CrossRefGoogle Scholar. The term ‘journalism’ was supposedly first introduced in the 1830s in France and quickly translated into other European languages: King, A. and Plunkett, J. (eds.), Victorian Print Media. A Reader (Oxford, 2005), 293Google Scholar.

2 Bertuch, F.J., ‘Plan und Ankündigung’, London und Paris, 1 (1798), 3–11, at 6Google Scholar, 6f; all German and Spanish texts have been translated by the author.

3 The Tableau de Paris originally appeared in instalments in the Journal des Dames (1775–76) before it was published as a multivolume book (1781–88).

4 On the emergence of a transnational (mostly western) European tradition of urban self-inspection in the first half of the nineteenth century, see García Cuvardic, D., El flâneur en las prácticas culturales, el costumbrismo y el modernismo (Paris, 2012)Google Scholar.

5 This was especially the case from the 1840s onwards. See Cuvardic García, D., ‘Programa de ilustraciones y plan iconográfico de las colecciones costumbristas de tipos sociales en los españoles, los cubanos y los mexicanos. . .pintados por sí mismos’, Kánina, Revista de Artes y Letras, 38 (2014), 241–62Google Scholar. For a bibliographic overview of sketches written in English-, German- and French-speaking contexts, see Lauster, M., Sketches of the Nineteenth Century: European Journalism and its ‘Physiologies’, 1830–1850 (Basingstoke, 2007), 329–34CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

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9 After John Macrone had published Dickens’ ‘Street sketches’ in the collection Sketches by Boz in 1836, in the same year the collection was re-edited, and a second volume was published with further articles. In 1839, the sketches appeared as a single volume edited by Chapman and Hall (London) and Baudry's European Library (Paris). The first ‘cheap’ edition was published by Chapman and Hall in 1850. Mesonero Romanos’ urban sketches were first collected in three volumes between 1835 and 1838 under the title Panorama matritense: cuadros de costumbres de la capital, observados y descritos, por un curioso parlante by Imprenta de Repullés in Madrid. The collection was newly edited in 1862 (Establecimiento Tipográfico de D. Francisco de Paula Mellado) and 1881 (Oficinas de la Ilustración Española y Americana). Further articles appeared in four volumes under the title Escenas matritenses in 1842. The Escenas matritenses were re-edited in 1845, 1851, 1879 and 1881; see Fernández, G. Hervás, La sociedad española en su literatura, vol. I (Madrid, 2010), 133Google Scholar.

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16 Wirth, ‘Urbanism as a way of life’, 14.

17 Such perspectives were also discussed in contemporary literary, philanthropic and political discourse: Lees, Cities Perceived.

18 Hall, T., Planning Europe's Capital Cities: Aspects of Nineteenth-Century Urban Developments (London and New York, 1997)Google Scholar. Although the absolute population numbers of London and Madrid differed significantly, Mesonero Romanos’ Madrid was a ‘big city’ in terms of population size, density and everyday culture. The mid-century city, which in 1834 numbered approximately 175,000 inhabitants (and already 300,000 in 1860), largely remained within its walls and thus produced ‘the sensation of stress and chaos, of a confusion of classes’: Julía, S., Julía Díaz, S., Ringrose, D.R. and Segura, C., Madrid. Historia de una capital (Madrid, 2000), 355Google Scholar; see also Instituto Geográfico Nacional (n.d.), ‘Densidad de población en Madrid a mediados del siglo XIX, antes del derribo de la cerca’, www.ign.es/espmap/figuras_espacios_bach/pdf/Ciudad%20Fig_08.pdf, accessed 6 Nov. 2017.

19 Lauster, Sketches of the Nineteenth Century, 211–49.

20 Lauster, M., ‘Physiognomy, zoology, and physiology as paradigms in sociological sketches of the 1830s and 40s’, in Percival, M. and Tytler, G. (eds.), Physiognomy in Profile. Lavater's Impact on European Culture (Newark, DE, 2005), 161–79Google Scholar. Graeme Davison has shown how the idea of the city as a natural system became the dominant paradigm of urban investigation in the early nineteenth century: Davison, G., ‘The city as a natural system: theories of urban society in early nineteenth-century Britain’, in Fraser, D. and Sutcliffe, A. (eds.), The Pursuit of Urban History (London, 1983), 349–70Google Scholar.

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22 For example, ‘panorama’ or ‘diorama’ were recurring metaphors used to grasp the city in both its entirety and its compartmentalized units. On the relationships between visual culture and social thought, see Brosch, R., ‘Victorian challenges to ways of seeing. Everyday life, entertainment, images, and illusions’, in Brosch, R. (ed.), Victorian Visual Culture (Heidelberg, 2008), 21–63Google Scholar; Wechsler, J., A Human Comedy. Physiognomy and Caricature in Nineteenth-Century Paris (London, 1982)Google Scholar.

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24 Ibid.

25 Ibid.

26 de Mesonero Romanos, R., ‘Industria de la capital’ (1852), in de Mesonero Romanos, R., Tipos, grupos y bocetos de cuadros de costumbres dibujados a la pluma (Madrid, 1862), 37–46, at 40Google Scholar.

27 Until today, the Paseo del Prado is one of the most important boulevards in Madrid.

28 Ibid.

29 See Simmel, G., ‘The metropolis and mental life’ (1903), in Wolff, K.H. (ed.), The Sociology of Georg Simmel (New York, 1950), 409–24Google Scholar.

30 de Mesonero Romanos, R., Manual histórico-topográfico, administrativo y artístico de Madrid (Madrid, 1844), 113Google Scholar.

31 Ibid., 112.

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34 Dickens, C., ‘Thoughts about people’ (1836), in Dickens, C., Sketches by Boz (Paris, 1839), 168–72, at 168Google Scholar.

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36 C. Dickens, ‘Shabby-genteel people’, in Dickens, Sketches by Boz, 206–9.

37 Ibid., 207.

38 Ibid., 208.

39 Ibid., 209.

40 Dierig, S. et al., ‘Introduction: toward an urban history of science’, Osiris, 18 (2003), 1–19, at 15CrossRefGoogle Scholar. We certainly cannot put the boom of knowledge production in cities like London or Paris on the same level with developments in Madrid. However, despite the slow development of a bourgeois civic structure, after the end of the absolutist rule of Ferdinand VII in 1833 the Spanish capital clearly experienced the consolidation of a more active public sphere as well as major debates with regard to urban reforms. See Otero Carvajal, E. and Pallol Trigueros, R., ‘El Madrid moderno, capital de una España urbana en transformación, 1860–1931’, Historia Contemporanea, 39 (2011), 541–88Google Scholar, at 544; see also Lewis, T., ‘Structures and agents: the concept of “bourgeois revolution” in Spain’, Arizona Journal of Hispanic Cultural Studies, 3 (1999), 7–16CrossRefGoogle Scholar. Moreover, the Spanish capital experienced a significant rise of periodical publications: Pereira Castañares, J.C. and García Sanz, F., ‘Prensa y opinion pública madrileña en la primera mitad del siglo XIX’, in Otero Carvajal, L.E. and Bahamonde, A. (eds.), Madrid en la sociedad del siglo XIX, vol. I (Madrid, 1986), 220–1Google Scholar.

41 Johan Heilbron has proposed the concept of ‘regime’ to describe pre-disciplinary frameworks of scholarly reflection: Heilbron, J., The Rise of Social Theory (Cambridge, 1995), 13Google Scholar.

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49 Pope, Dickens and Charity.

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53 Ibid.

54 Lauster, Sketches of the Nineteenth Century, 3.

55 See, for instance, Mesonero Romanos’ and Dickens’ articles ‘The last cab-driver, and the first omnibus cad’ (1836), ‘Hackney-coach stands’ (1836), ‘The first of May’ (1836), ‘Antes, ahora y después’ (‘Before, now, and after’, 1837), ‘El cesante’ (‘The unemployed civil servant’, 1837).

56 ‘Los cómicos en cuaresma’ (‘The comedians during lent’, 1832), ‘Private theatres’ (1836), ‘Astleys’ (1836), ‘El teatro por fuera’ (‘The theatre from the outside’, 1838).

57 ‘La romería de San Isidro’ (‘The pilgrimage of San Isidro’, 1832), ‘La filarmonía’ (‘The philharmony’, 1833), ‘The steam excursion’ (1834), ‘The ladies’ societies’ (1835).

58 ‘Meditations in Monmouth-street’ (1836), ‘The pawnbroker's shop’ (1836), ‘El alquiler de un cuarto’ (‘Renting a room’, 1837).

59 ‘Policía urbana’ (‘Urban policy’, 1833), ‘Seven Dials’ (1836), ‘Paseo por las calles’ (‘A stroll through the streets’, 1835).

60 LeComte, M.D. and Schensul, J.J., Designing and Conducting Ethnographic Research. An Introduction (Lanham, 2010), 195–225Google Scholar; van Maanen, J., Tales of the Field. On Writing Ethnography (Chicago and London, 1988)Google Scholar.

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69 Like Mesonero Romanos, many sketch authors elaborated on the narrative instance of their texts. The narrator created by Mesonero Romanos is named ‘El curioso parlante’ (The curious talker), which implies the qualities of innate nosiness and the talent of narrating.

70 Mesonero Romanos, ‘El Prado’, 53.

71 Ibid., 52.

72 Ibid.

73 Ibid., 53.

74 Ibid.

75 Ibid.

76 Ibid.

77 Ibid., 54.

78 C. Dickens, ‘The streets – morning’, in Dickens, Sketches by Boz, 238–42, at 38.

79 Ibid.

80 Ibid., 39.

81 Ibid.

82 Ibid.

83 Ibid.

84 Ibid.

85 Ibid., 41.

86 Ibid.

87 Ibid., 42.

88 Fred Schwarzbach has shown that Dickens’ urban sketches were received as faithful accounts of London life by readers and critics: Schwarzbach, Dickens and the City, 33.

89 See, for example, the sketches ‘La capa vieja y el baile del candil’ (‘The old cloak and the village dance’, 1833), ‘Antes, ahora y después’ (‘Before, now and after’, 1837), ‘El cesante’ (‘The unemployed civil servant’, 1837), ‘El alquiler de un cuarto’ (‘Renting a room’, 1837) and ‘El gabán’ (‘The overcoat’, 1840).

90 See Anderson, F., ‘Madrid, los balcones y la historia: Mesonero Romanos y Pérez Galdós’, Cuadernos Hispanoamericanos, 464 (1989), 63–75Google Scholar. This attitude corresponds with that of the large part of Madrid's upper and bourgeois classes, which virtually overlooked the problems caused by social inequality until the 1870s: C. Díez de Baldeón, ‘Barrios obreros en el Madrid del siglo XIX. ¿Solución o amenaza para el orden burgués?’, in Otero Carvajal and Bahamond (eds.), Madrid en la sociedad del siglo XIX, 117–34.

91 Schwarzbach Dickens and the City, 31–42. See, as examples, the sketches ‘The drunkard's death’ (1836), ‘Seven Dials’ (1836), ‘The pawnbroker's shop’ (1836), ‘Meditations in Monmouth-street’ (1836), ‘A visit to Newgate’ (1836) and ‘Gin shops’ (1836).

92 R. de Mesonero Romanos, ‘Policía urbana’ (1833), in Mesonero Romanos, Escenas matritenses, 180–6.

93 Ibid., 180.

94 Ibid., 181.

95 Ibid.

96 Ibid.

97 Ibid.

98 Ibid., 183.

99 Ibid., 184.

100 Ibid., 185.

101 Ibid.

102 Ibid.

103 Ibid.

104 Ibid.

105 Ibid.

106 Ibid., 186.

107 Ibid.

108 C. Dickens, ‘Gin shops’, in Dickens, Sketches by Boz, 142–6.

109 Ibid., 144.

110 Ibid.

111 Ibid.

112 Ibid.

113 Ibid.

114 Ibid., 145.

115 Ibid.

116 Ibid.

117 Ibid., 146.

118 Ibid.

119 Ibid.

120 Ibid.

121 There is one exception: the journalist, playwright and publisher Henry Mayhew (1812–87) has been discovered as a precursor of critical urban study: Herbert, C., Culture and Anomie. Ethnographic Imagination in the Nineteenth Century (Chicago and London, 1991), 205–52Google Scholar.

122 Frisby, D., Cityscape of Modernity (Cambridge, 2001), 29Google Scholar.

123 Ibid.; Nuvolati, G., ‘The flâneur and the city: object and subject of sociological analysis’, in Mele, V., Sociology, aesthetics and the city (Pisa, 2011), 143–62Google Scholar.

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125 Certainly, there are exceptional cases of studies that go beyond the phase of disciplinary institutionalization. See Stocking, G.W., Victorian Anthropology (New York 1987)Google Scholar; Moravia, S., ‘The Enlightenment and the sciences of man’, History of Science, 18 (1980), 247–68CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

126 See Prato, G.B. and Pardo, I., ‘Urban anthropology’, Urbanities, 3 (2013), 80–110Google Scholar; one interesting example is Marc Augé’s study In the Metro (first published in French in 1986), where the author adopts the perspective of the directionless flâneur and takes his readers on a very personal journey through the Parisian underground.

127 Bonvillain, N., Cultural Anthropology, 2nd edn (Upper Saddle River, NJ, 2010), 54–7Google Scholar.

128 Lancione, M., ‘The ethnographic novel as activist mode of existence: translating the field with homeless people and beyond’, Social and Cultural Geography, 18 (2017), 994–1015CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Visweswaran, K., Fictions of Feminist Ethnography (Minneapolis, 1994)Google Scholar.

129 Some deliberations on these interdependencies were made with regard to Henry Mayhew's interpretations of London's street population. See Shesgreen, S., Images of the Outcast. The Urban Poor in the Cries of London (Manchester, 2002), 169ffGoogle Scholar; Herbert, Culture and Anomie, 205–52.