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** This is an archived, static copy of the Casebook messages boards dating from 1998 to 2003. These threads cannot be replied to here. If you want to participate in our current forums please go to https://forum.casebook.org **
Jack the Ripper and the London Press (Curtis, 2002)
Casebook Message Boards: Ripper Media: Specific Titles:
Non-Fiction:
Jack the Ripper and the London Press (Curtis, 2002)
Author: Stephen P. Ryder
Monday, 30 July 2001 - 11:00 pm |        | 
Jack the Ripper and the London Press
(Advance Uncorrected Proof)
L. Perry Curtis
Yale University Press, 2002
Books with "Jack the Ripper" in the title usually don't include words such as shadenfreude, semiotic, trope or (my personal favorite) gynophagy. Perhaps that's a silly point to make at the opening of a review. But when the most I can usually hope for at the beginning of a new offering in this genre is correct spelling and punctuation, it is indeed startling to stumble across the cold, emotionless vocabulary of academia within the confines of a Ripper read. After skimming through just the first few paragraphs of Jack the Ripper and the London Press, I knew this was no run-of-the-mill "final solution." I couldn't wait to jump in.
The first several chapters start off with a bang, providing detailed and evocative depictions of East End social conditions, as well as informative case studies of "new journalism" and Fleet Street's coverage of other Victorian murder cases. Curtis ably demonstrates what was required to make a true-blue Victorian murder sensation - not just a gruesome death, but also the added elements of class struggle, political scandal and just the right amount of sexuality. He then draws a brilliant comparison between the reportage of the Ripper case in 1888 and that of the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal of 1998 - in both instances the press struggled to publish a monumental story without pushing the envelope of "tasteful reporting" too far. Whereas the Victorian press had to dream up sanitary euphemisms for "sexual intercourse", "groin" and "vagina" in describing the Ripper murders, CNN reporters in 1998 struggled to complete their broadcasts on the Starr Report without using the word "fellatio" or explaining just exactly what the President did with his favorite cigar.
Unfortunately, Curtis loses some of his earlier momentum when he begins to describe the actual reporting that took place in a dozen or so different London newspapers. While he painstakingly analyzes every major angle of the Ripper story and contrasts the coverage offered by the different presses, he never seems to draw any major conclusions from the study. Curtis succeeds in portraying the distinct methods and philosophies of a few newspapers and their editors, such as Lloyd's and, most notably, the Pall Mall Gazette. But the remaining ten or so papers in his study remain largely indistinct and undifferentiated, and as a result much of the discussion surrounding them, while interesting in itself, fails to impress any overall realizations upon the reader.
Nevertheless, what remains is a fascinating and little-known version of events as portrayed in the contemporary press. Curtis relates the story of the Ripper murders exactly as the Victorian public themselves heard it back in 1888. In doing so, he makes a number of important revelations - not about the Ripper or his victims, but rather about Victorian society as a whole, and how the case affected, and continues to affect, social reactions to the most unsocial of crimes. Strongly recommended.
Pre-orders now being taken at:
Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=0300088728/casebookjackth01A/
Amazon.co.uk: http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0300088728/casebojacktherip |
Author: Christopher T George
Tuesday, 31 July 2001 - 08:56 am | | Hi, Stephen:
Thanks for letting us sharing your reactions to this new title. It sounds like a valuable and well-researched addition to the literature. Perhaps Yale University Press will be good enough to send us a review copy for Ripper Notes. 
I am glad you mentioned the parallel the author draws between the Ripper case and the Clinton scandal, Bubba and the cigar, etc. Must be serendipity! One of the new songs I have written for "Jack--The Musical" for the whores to sing is "Stamp Out His Cigar!" No kidding. 
All the best
Chris George |
Author: Tom Wescott
Tuesday, 31 July 2001 - 04:08 pm | | Chris,
You're still writing songs for that? I thought it was finished. Is it a sequel?
As to the 'London Press' book, I'm looking forward to getting it. When I first read about it I thought it was the same book that CM Digrazia is working on, but of course, it's not. The cover art pictured above really sucks, but what are you going to do, right? If you haven't seen the cover art to Stewart's 'Letters From Hell' yet, wait until you do...The BEST cover art for a Ripper book yet, in my opinion.
Yours truly,
Tom Wescott |
Author: Stephen P. Ryder
Tuesday, 31 July 2001 - 04:12 pm | | | Just a note re: cover art - what I scanned above was the cover of the advanced uncorrected proof, not the actual book (slated for release February 2002). Uncorrected proofs usually don't carry any cover art and tend to have the standard drab black title on a deep red cardstock cover... so don't judge this book by its cover... at least not by this one! |
Author: Christopher T George
Wednesday, 01 August 2001 - 11:09 am | | Hi, Tom:
Yes anticipate a lurid bloody scene for the book cover. . . Well, we'll see. As Stephen says, the final cover will probably bear no resemblence to the cover of the uncorrected proof he saw. This book is independent of CMD's book project on JtR and articles in the Daily Telegraph, which will be published ere long by MacFarland. And, yes, Erik Sitbon and I are still tinkering with our show, "Jack the Musical," finalizing the scoring for the entire two acts. As CM can attest from personal experience with a lauded JtR musical of his own - - well, aren't we a couple of talented chaps? - - the job of mounting and promoting a big-time musical is a continuous process.
All the best
Chris George |
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