The Urban Crisis In Sarah Waters' Fingersmith

Sarah Waters is one of the most representative contemporary writers in Britain,whose works attract tremendous attention among literary critics and mass readers.Fingersmith,her third work with the background of Victorian era,is a story between Maud and Sue based on lies and desire.According to the social philosopher Lewis Mumford's urban theories,this thesis studies Sarah Waters' Fingersmith from the two aspects of urban and cultural environment.First,this thesis analyses the Lant Street's environment including the chaotic downtown and living condition,which reveals citizens' depressed life and the environmental crisis they are trapped in.Second,it explores the loss of urban belonging based on the two protagonists' experiences,including Maud's urban roaming and Sue's struggle in London city,which aim to unveil the emotional distortion and present a spiritually paralytic London.Finally,it focuses on the solution to urban crisis combined with urban theories and realities.Building the ecological city and calling for public's attention on the humanity development and community attachment are the effective ways to release the urban crisis in modern society.This thesis lays emphasis on improving natural and cultural environment through the analysis on the disordered society in city.It also retrieves the balance among nature,city and human.The research on Fingersmith from the aspect of urban crisis expands the perspectives of this novel and motivates the attention of the urban crisis in modern city.