Picturesque Poverty: London By-ways in Evangelical Stories by Hesba Stretton and L.T. Meade
Thomas Kullmann
Abstract
The London East End, and other ‘poor’ parts of London, feature as major sites in evangelical novels and stories by Hesba Stretton (Jessica’s First Prayer, Little Meg’s Children) and L.T. Meade (Scamp and I, Bel-Marjory, A Dweller in Tents, How It All Came Round). Conversion stories are told, and sometimes deathbed scenes presented, against the backdrop of slum life, characterised by dirt, hunger, alcoholism, violence and crime but also surprising instances of charity and love. Invariably, these London by-ways are contrasted with West End localities (Belgravia, Hyde Park, Trafalgar Square), or ‘neutral ground’ (Regent’s Park, Bloomsbury), so that the geography of London acquires symbolic significance. The article contends that Stretton’s and Meade’s descriptions of poverty and life in unsanitary circumstances constituted a major attraction of their stories for middle-class readers. The East End becomes an exotic and picturesque site, displaying possibilities of life which the West End cannot offer.
Keywords
evangelical fiction; London East End; exoticism; otherness; realism; spatial symbolism
Date of Acceptance: 7 July 2025
Date of Publication: 10 July 2025
Double Blind Peer Reviewed
Recommended Citation:
Kullmann, Thomas. 2025. “Picturesque Poverty: London By-ways in Evangelical Stories by Hesba Stretton and L.T. Meade.” Victorian Popular Fictions, 7.1: 67-79. ISSN: 2632-4253 (online) DOI: https://doi.org/10.46911/ELVI2094
Return to Contents page of VPFJ 7.1
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
