Nights Out: Life in Cosmopolitan London

by Judith R. Walkowitz

London’s Soho district underwent a spectacular transformation between the late Victorian era and the end of the Second World its old buildings and dark streets infamous for sex, crime, political disloyalty, and ethnic diversity became a center of culinary and cultural tourism servicing patrons of nearby shops and theaters. Indulgences for the privileged and the upwardly mobile edged a dangerous, transgressive space imagined to be "outside" the nation. Treating Soho as exceptional, but also representative of London's urban transformation, Judith Walkowitz shows how the area's foreignness and porousness were key to the explosion of culture and development of modernity in the first half of the twentieth century. She draws on a vast and unusual range of sources to stitch together a rich patchwork quilt of vivid stories and unforgettable characters, revealing how Soho became a showcase for a new cosmopolitan identity.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Academic, London

432 pages, Hardcover

First published February 7, 2012

Reviews

[Mir]

*There seem to be at least three entries in the database for this book -- maybe some librarian could combine them?*

Academic conversation tends to bifurcate into two areas of concern. The first case relates to cosmopolitanism as an intellectual program, the second to cosmopolitanism as a social and cultural experience. In the first instance, literary critics, and philosophers debate the merits of cosmopolitanism as a privileged, ethical, or aesthetic form of thinking and textual practice.
...
Outside of literary circles, a different discussion of cosmopolitanism has ensued among anthropologists and scholars of cultural studies, who have called for attention to less highbrow versions of the cosmopolitan project.
...
To this end, Nights Out spotlights Soho, recognized in its own day as a practical laboratory of the cosmopolitan experience for both plebeian transmigrants and avant-garde devotees of cultural cosmopolitanism such as Woolf and Conrad. It forcefully argues for the centrality of commercialized culture in shaping political formations, particularly during the interwar years.

...And this is where I realized that this book wasn't going to do what I wanted. That's a purely personal statement and not in anyway a criticism of this book, except that the title and chapter heading could stand to be more informative. When a title says, "Cosmopolitan London" I expect it to cover more of that extensive polis than just Soho. I wanted something broader, and preferably something that coverd the pre-war years a bit more.

Again, this is a question of my current research needs -- for readers interested in Virginia Woolf and/or Soho culture I'm sure the book is splendid. I thought very highly of Walkowitz's City of Dreadful Delight.


Maholy-Nagy, "Stocking stall"

In the late Victorian period, it gained new currency as a description of urban spaces and their cultural and social milieu. This spatial designation took place during a moment of geographic turmoil at the worldwide and local level.

I should just skip this and read Imperial Cities: Landscape, Display and Identity, is what I'm hearing. Or a John Galsworthy novel.



Other topics that feature heavily, for those who may be interested: Jewish Soho, Nightclubs, shows and dancing, shopping.

[Lesley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Actually, sort of three-and-an-half. Some good stuff, but also covering areas that other historians have recently also published on e.g. the Windmill Theatre (plus, I can see that the 1918 'Cult of the Clitoris' libel case has its historical interest, but perhaps it is time to declare a moratorium on any further analysis for a bit? - though Walkowitz does explore more generally the context for Maud Allan and issues around dance). I did wonder if some of those white women dancing with black men in shady Soho nightclubs were not sensation-seekers (or not just) but committed to the struggle for racial equality (cf Nancy Cunard) and given informal colour-bars at other more mainstream places, this was where they had to go.

[MH · Rating 3 out of 5]

A deep look at nightlife in London's Soho district from the end of the nineteenth century to World War II, with a focus on Soho as a cosmopolitan space where varied peoples and cultures combine and intersect. It's a deeply scholarly work, for better and worse - the endnotes and bibliography are lengthy and thorough, but the language can get dry and lapse into that of modern academia (at one point she uses variations of the word 'border' five times in four sentences). The breadth of her topics means that her expertise isn't consistent across the board (her writing about African American GIs, for example, ignores the military strictures these men were under and at one point misdefines a particular racial epithet - a clearer understanding of either of these might have changed her argument), but the subjects she examines are often so interesting, and the nearly hundred pages of notes are so useful, that careful scholars should find great value in this book.

[Jess · Rating 5 out of 5]

In Nights Out, Walkowitz offers a fascinating account of cosmopolitan Soho and its early inhabitants, highlighting the lives of those often absent from other histories of London’s West End. Hers is a Soho populated by vivid characters, from Jewish stall keepers to Italian restaurateurs to the female nightclub owners overseeing the provision of ‘adult’ entertainment. Not only is this book a must-read for those interested in the history of urban space, but also anyone who enjoys lively histories featuring memorable characters.

[Nancy Stringer · Rating 1 out of 5]

The seedy heart of London.

[Schmidleysscribblins.wordpress.com · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting book, but not as informative as her 'City of Dreadful Delight.'