In
Two Women of London, Emma Tennant rewrites the tale of
Dr Jeckyll and Mr Hyde, which exposed the hypocrisy and duplicity of Victorian values. Here she rewrites the split personality tale to indict the similar hypocrisies of Thatcherite Britain. The novel features a group of women in London, amongst the background of the (only) leafy square of Ladbroke Grove in Notting Hill. Utilising the motif of the alter ego, the split personality which Robert Louis Stevenson employed in the Victorian period, she updates into contemporary London those first stirrings of a psychological awareness about multiple personalities. The novel combines a kind of murder hunt with the tracking down of the relationship between Mrs Hyde and Eliza Jeckyll, each a woman who has been typecast by society. Eliza…
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Citation: Wisker, Gina. "Two Women of London". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 07 July 2001 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=8508, accessed 16 April 2024.]
