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Literary Geography

Larry Mitchell poses with students from his English 291 class during a visit to Kew Gardens in London. Mitchell developed the course because he believed that only through personal experience can one fully appreciate the resonance of the famous locales in literature, as well as attain a good grasp of the history and geography of metropolitan London.

For years, English professor Larry Mitchell has had a problem with geography.

“It has been my experience over the years that students in English literature courses have real difficulty understanding the geography of England and the full significance —historical and literary — of important sites in a country they have never visited.”

So when the English department put out a call for study abroad proposals, which included funding support from benefactors Robbie and Thomas C. Morris III ’62, Mitchell responded. He proposed creating a new course where students would study London through a range of novels, short stories and documentary films. In addition to the readings, students would write a paper on a selected landmark. They would begin their research in Texas A&M University’s Cushing Memorial Library, which had acquired a very comprehensive collection of books and maps pertaining to London. They would follow up with a week-long visit to London to conduct first-hand research, as well as take scheduled trips to literary/historical landmarks selected for their intrinsic importance and/or their centrality to the course reading.

Mitchell’s proposal was selected and became the course “London in Fact and Fiction: An Exploration” during the spring 2007 semester. The reading materials for the course had to have literary merit and also reference different parts of London that his class would visit, such as Soho, the East End and Belgravia.

Prior to the spring break trip, the class read The Secret Agent by Joseph Conrad, Sherlock Holmes: The Major Stories by Arthur Conan Doyle, Imagined London by Anna Quindlen, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson, The People of the Abyss by Jack London, and watched a documentary film titled The London Blitz.

Mitchell designed the itinerary to include two scheduled visits a day, with most evenings free. The trip was especially meaningful for Mitchell, who hails from England, since it was an opportunity to introduce his students to a city that had long been dear to his heart. And his students responded with enthusiasm.

“Students took full advantage of the opportunities to visit other sites of their own selection, as well as to attend the theater in the evenings. Not only did they learn to navigate the London Underground and bus system but they did a lot of walking too, especially through such expansive parks as Hyde Park, St. James’s Park, and Regent’s Park. From the animated discussions at breakfast each morning, it was clear that their experiences were both exhilarating and exhausting. Groups compared notes and recommended extra activities—browsing through Covent Garden Market, high tea in Knightsbridge, antique and clothing stores in Camden Town, et cetera.”

Since this was Mitchell’s first try in developing and conducting a study abroad trip, he wasn’t sure what to expect. He had heard stories of problems in selected instances from other faculty who had accompanied student groups abroad. Maybe it was the fact that he had already spent half of the semester with his students and knew them well. Maybe it was the structure of the trip that required the students to conduct research that would affect their final grade. Whatever the reason, Mitchell noted that his Aggies “showed themselves to be remarkably responsible and disciplined. It was a pleasure to work with this fine group of English majors. They represented themselves and their school with dignity.”