"This is a Borzoi book"-- Title page verso. Includes bibliographical references.
Contents:
London, lying sicke of the plague (1603) / Thomas Dekker -- The great fire of London (1666) / John Evelyn -- A ragged boyhood" (1722) / Daniel Defoe -- Love among the Methodists (1792) / James Lackington -- A visit to Charlotte Cibber (1795) / Samuel Whyte -- Ann of Oxford Street (1822) / Thomas de Quincey -- Going to see a man hanged (1840) / William Makepeace Thackeray -- Watercress Girl (1851) / Henry Mayhew -- Down with the tide (1853) / Charles Dickens -- The Walworth Jumpers (1876) / C. Maurice Davies -- My first soireé (1891) / Eliza Lynn Linton -- The adventure of the blue carbuncle (1892) / Arthur Conan Doyle -- Christopherson (1906) / George Gissing -- The fetching of Susan (1912) / Andom [Alfred Walter Barrett] -- The elephant man (1923) / Frederick Treves -- A Forsyte encounters the people, 1917 (1930) / John Galsworthy -- A little place off the Edgware Road (1939) / Graham Greene -- Good evening, Mrs Craven (1942) / Mollie Panter-Downes -- The wall (1944) / William Sansom -- Mysterious Kôr (1945) / Elizabeth Bowen -- Coming to London (1957) / J.B. Priestley -- Tigers are better-looking (1964) / Jean Rhys -- Daisy Overend (1967) / Muriel Spark -- In defence of the underground (1992) / Doris Lessing -- Islington (1997) / Irma Kurtz -- The umbrella (1999) / Hanif Kureishi.
Summary:
"London has the greatest literary tradition of any city in the world. Its roll call of storytellers includes cultural giants like Shakespeare, Defoe, and Dickens, and an innumerable host of writers of all sorts who sought to capture the essence of the place. Acclaimed historian Jerry White has collected some twenty-six stories to illustrate the extraordinary diversity of both London life and writing over the past four centuries, from Shakespeare's day to the present. These are stories of fact and fiction and occasionally something in between, some from well-known voices and others practically unknown. Here are dramatic views of such iconic events as the plague, the Great Fire of London, and the Blitz, but also William Thackeray's account of going to see a man hanged, Thomas De Quincey's friendship with a teenaged prostitute, and Doris Lessing's defense of the Underground. This literary London encompasses the famous Baker Street residence of Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes and the bombed-out moonscape of Elizabeth Bowen's wartime streets, Charles Dicken's treacherous River Thames and Frederick Treves's tragic Elephant Man. Graham Greene, Jean Rhys, Muriel Spark, and Hanif Kureishi are among the many great writers who give us their varied Londons here, revealing a city of boundless wealth and ragged squalor, of moving tragedy and riotous joy. (Book Jacket Status: Jacketed)"-- Provided by publisher. "An anthology of short fiction and nonfiction about the city of London from the past four centuries, edited by historian Jerry White"-- Provided by publisher.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.