The Making of London London in Contemporary Literature [Hardcover]

London has become the focus of a ferocious imaginative energy since the rise of Thatcher. The Making of London analyses the body of work by writers who have committed their writing to the many lives of a city undergoing complex transformations, tracing a major shift in the representation of the capital city.List of Illustrations Acknowledgements List of Abbreviations Introduction From 'Ellowen Deeowen' to 'Babylondon': London is a Language 'Fabricked Out Of Literature and Myth': Maureen Duffy's Londons 'Of Real Experience Mixed with Myth': Michael Moorcock? 'A Zoo Fit for Psychopaths': J.G. Ballard versus London 'Struck Out of Pure Invention': Iain Sinclair's London 'In Pre-Ordained Patterns': Peter Ackroyd's London Palimpsests 'Beyond the Responsibility of Place': Ian McEwan's Londons 'In a Prose so Diagonal and Mood Warped': Martin Amis's London Scatology 'Through a Confusion of Languages': Salman Rushdie and Hanif Kureishi 'Kyan you Imagine Dat?': The New London Languages of Zadie Smith and Monica Ali Conclusion: London Undone? Chronology of Contemporary London Notes Bibliography Index

'Groes has written a work of impressive insight and erudition.' - PD Smith, The Guardian

'Anyone who has read Moorcock, Duffy, Ackroyd or Ballard and wondered how it all fits together will be fascinated and enlightened.'- Euan Ferguson, Time Out London

'The Making of London is fascinating. Refreshingly free of the dryness that mars a lot of critical writing, and it introduced me to a lot of stuff I previously knew nowt about.' - Niall Griffiths

'I am most impressed. The corpus is an interesting and challenging one, and the photography is a brilliant addition.'- Richard Todd, Leiden University

'Groes has produced an impressive book, wide-ranging in its scope, subtle in its analysis and adept at keeping numerous intellectual balls in the air. It will, I have little doubt, become a standard text for studenlcì