The Pursuit of Pleasure: Gender, Space and Architecture in Regency London

by Jane Rendell

The Pursuit of Pleasure presents the figures of the rambler and the cyprian, the Eighteenth Century precursors to the Parisian flGneur and prostitute. The urban spaces traced by these figures were the clubs, sporting venues, operas, assembly rooms, street.

Genres: Architecture, Research, Nonfiction, History

262 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2001

About the author

Jane Rendell is Lecturer in Architecture at the Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL.

Reviews

[Judith · Rating 3 out of 5]

A lot of theory. Chapters of clubs, theatre, etc. get redundant

[Marsha Altman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reads like the expanded graduate thesis it probably is, which is honestly not as bad as the introduction made it out to be. Lots of lines like, "This desire operates through tropes of mobility and visuality which locates them in controlling positions. The rambler is celebrated as an urban explorer, actively engaged in the pursuit of pleasure and women." Also, a good third of the book is footnotes. That said, it's not actually a bad book, if you want to know some interesting things about society in Regency England from an unusual perspective. It has an excellent analysis of Egan's "Life and Times in London" books which are so essential to the period and so impossible to get through.

I wouldn't really recommend this book unless you are already somewhat familiar with Regency England, but if you have already read a few books on the topic, this is a new take with interesting gender theories. The actual length of the text is 141 pages. The rest is footnotes.