Emma Tennant, Two Women of London

Gina Wisker (University of Brighton)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.3: Scottish Writing and Culture, 400-present.
Vol. editors: Kate Ash-Irisarri (University of Edinburgh), Daniel Cook (University of Dundee), J. Derrick McClure (University of Aberdeen)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1995

Places

Scotland (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Novel

Resources

In Two Women of London, Emma Tennant rewrites the tale of Dr Jeckyll and Mr Hyde, which exposed the hypocrisy and duplicity of Victorian values. Here she rewrites the split personality tale to indict the similar hypocrisies of Thatcherite Britain. The novel features a group of women in London, amongst the background of the (only) leafy square of Ladbroke Grove in Notting Hill. Utilising the motif of the alter ego, the split personality which Robert Louis Stevenson employed in the Victorian period, she updates into contemporary London those first stirrings of a psychological awareness about multiple personalities. The novel combines a kind of murder hunt with the tracking down of the relationship between Mrs Hyde and …

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518 words

Citation: Wisker, Gina. "Two Women of London". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 07 July 2001 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=8508, accessed 27 November 2024.]

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