1,723,195 research outputs found
The Shadow of the Ripper: The Evolution of the Ripper Mythology
No full textAuthor Alan Moore, in his graphic novel From Hell, claimed that the Ripper “mirrors our hysterias. Faceless, he is the receptacle for each new social panic”. It is this flexibility that has seen the figure of the Ripper elevated to something of a mythical status in the public eye, with his notoriety arguably outgrowing the very context from which he was born. However, while the Ripper figure has been acknowledged as an evolving and transformative figure in Neo-Victorian fiction, like Moore’s, little has been made of the connection between fictional portrayals of the Ripper and the community of non-fiction writers who speculate about the identity of the Ripper. Scholarship has distanced this community, better known by the label ‘Ripperology’, from fictional representations of the Ripper and Neo-Victorianism in general. The problem with this distancing is that it does not acknowledge the fact that Ripperology texts reimagine and reconstruct the Victorian age through the figure of their prospective Rippers. As a result, Ripperology can be classified under the umbrella of Neo-Victorian literature. By bringing together analysis of fictional and Ripperologist texts, the thesis examines how the community of Ripperology responds to and reflects contemporary anxieties,as do fictional representations of the Ripper. It also explores the symbiotic relationship between the fictional portrayals of the Ripper on one hand, and the community of Ripperologists who seek to bring him to some semblance of justice. This thesis therefore examines a range of Ripper texts as forms of neo-Victorian fiction, demonstrating how they have contributed to the evolution of the Ripper figure, from the earliest reports of the crimes of 1888, to more recent texts in newer mediums and methodologies. By using this approach, the thesis will be able to show how the narratives surrounding the Ripper figure, which have been conjured in both Ripperology and fictional portrayals of the Ripper, have also shaped our understanding of the Victorian era
'I hate this job': Guiding Ripper Tours in the East End
No full textOn the streets of Whitechapel, London, independent tour guides are operating where official heritage organizations will not tread. The East End has recently experienced a rapid proliferation of thanatourism in the form of Ripper tours and a Ripper ‘museum’. This essay offers a survey and account of this Ripper tourism. Its central concern is with the Ripper tours, which it considers as street theatre. The essay looks at the narrative and performance modes guides draw on to negotiate their highly contentious subject matter, and considers the tours’ complex relation to the Gothic
Femme fatales and the positioning of the Ripper in Roy Ward Baker’s Dr Jekyll and Sister Hyde
No full textMuch has been made of the way that many portrayals of Jack the Ripper travel upon a familiar narrative path, where the morally questionable prostitutes are rendered helpless by a lone male figure lurking in the dark alleys of 1888 Whitechapel. However, such a construction of the Ripper has resulted in an often reductive perspective on Victorian society, with many films regarding it as divided into either ‘proper’ Victorians who followed the true gender norms of their time, or outliers who instead subverted these very ‘moral’ notions. Roy Ward Baker’s film Dr Jekyll and Sister Hyde (1971) attempts to subvert these ideas by incorporating both the Ripper figure and Robert Louis Stevenson’s gothic characters, both of which have been intertwined in the past. In Dr Jekyll and Sister Hyde, though, Baker goes further by constructing two Rippers – one in the male scientist Dr Jekyll and the other in the female Mrs (or Sister) Hyde. Though the former can be attributed to many tropes that have become associated with the Ripper, the latter challenges not only archetypes of the Whitechapel Murderer but also greater questions of gender and transgression within Victorian society. Indeed, Hyde’s methods of greater autonomy within a patriarchal society bring to mind Slavoj Zizek’s notions of the femme fatale. This article will therefore argue how Baker’s film, through its portrayal of both Jekyll and Hyde, exhibits a greater willingness to challenge old notions of Victorian gender politics. Furthermore, it will show how these two ‘Rippers’ symbolize various fears and anxieties about the Victorian society and of the Ripper in particular
ripper
No full textripper nWithdraw X MAY 19801 cite [check]More evidence needed . Usu terms are _header_ , _splitting knife_ Now usedUsed IUsed INot use
Footsteps of the Ripper
No full textWhile on leave recently from the University, I spent several months in London researching crime in England, and was able to visit the sites of the Ripper murders and other places associated with the Ripper
ripper
No full textripper nA short, straight, sharp knife, right-handed only, for cutting the throat and stomach of a fish and removing the head.DNE-citUsed IUsed IUsed I[aslo called a 'cutter' and a 'cut-throa
Capturing (not Catching) the Ripper: Constructing the Myth of Jack the Ripper in Nineteenth Century London
No full textThe chapter approaches Jack the Ripper as a fictional rather than historical figure within the context of late nineteenth century popular culture. Adopting three lines of enquiry, the work firstly examines the role of the London press on manufacturing and popularizing the Ripper. It then examines the ways in which the Ripper can be read as part of a tradition of sensational gothic literature, from his roots in penny dreadfuls to his influence on later literary works such as Sherlock Holmes and Dracula. Lastly, the chapter examines the ways in which the Ripper can be read within the context of Whitechapel, becoming a symbol for ‘outcast London’. The work provides ways of reading the Ripper without becoming tangled in the actual crimes or ever-growing list of suspects and conspiracy theories
ripper n
No full textripper nripper, n. A short knife used for for dressing fish.DNE Sup PRINTED ITEMG. M. Story NOV. 1 6 1989Used IUsed IUsed
Capturing (not Catching) the Ripper: Constructing the Myth of Jack the Ripper in Nineteenth Century London
No full textThe chapter approaches Jack the Ripper as a fictional rather than historical figure within the context of late nineteenth century popular culture. Adopting three lines of enquiry, the work firstly examines the role of the London press on manufacturing and popularizing the Ripper. It then examines the ways in which the Ripper can be read as part of a tradition of sensational gothic literature, from his roots in penny dreadfuls to his influence on later literary works such as Sherlock Holmes and Dracula. Lastly, the chapter examines the ways in which the Ripper can be read within the context of Whitechapel, becoming a symbol for ‘outcast London’. The work provides ways of reading the Ripper without becoming tangled in the actual crimes or ever-growing list of suspects and conspiracy theories
- …
