Apartment Stories：City and Home in Nineteenth-Century Paris and London

Inurbanstudies,thenineteenthcenturyisthe"ageofgreatcities."Infeministstudies,itistheeraoftheseparatedomesticsphere.Butwhatofthecity'shomes?Inthecourseofansweringthisquestion,ApartmentStoriesprovidesasingularandradicallynewframeworkforunderstandingtheurbanandthedomestic.Turningtoanelementofthecityscapethatisthoroughlyfamiliaryetfrequentlyoverlooked,SharonMarcusarguesthattheapartmenthouseembodiedtheintersectionsofcityandhome,publicandprivate,andmasculineandfemininespheres.Movingdeftlyfromnovelstoarchitecturaltreatises,legaldebates,andpopularurbanobservation,MarcuscomparestherepresentationoftheapartmenthouseinParisandLondon.Alongtheway,sheexcavatestheurbanghosttalesthatencodedLondoners'ambivalenceaboutcitydwellings;contendsthatHaussmannizationenclosedParisinanewregimeofprivacy;andlocatesafemalecounterparttotheflaneurandtheomniscientrealistnarrator--theportierewhosupervisedtheapartmentbuilding.