Nightwalking by Matthew Beaumont
A captivating literary portrait of the writers who explore the city at night, and the people they met
Rarely has a book about darkness been so illuminating* Spectator ("Books of the Year") *
Nothing less than a grand unifying theory of the counter-enlightenment. -- Will Self
One of the most brilliant of the younger generation of English critics. -- Terry Eagleton
This is a book pulsing with life, just as the streets do, despite attempts to cut that liminal, semi-illicit life off. The foreword and afterword, by Will Self, beautifully bracket the book, reinforcing the idea that the city is layered over time, and that each layer is accessible, and can be made vivid in the imagination. Why Nightwalking has not won a major award is beyond mine. -- Nicholas Lezard * The Guardian *
Part literary criticism, part social history, part polemic, this is a haunting addition to the canon of psychogeography. * Financial Times *
He releases an ancient, urban miasma that rises from the page, untroubled by electric illumination, allowing us to inhale what Shakespeare's contemporary Thomas Dekker called 'that thick tobacco-breath which the rheumaticke night throws abroad.' * Independent *
An important and lively book. * Times Higher Education *
A historical guide to the capital, Beaumont details everything including the 'villainous' common nightwalkers and prostitutes of the middle ages and Charles Dickens's time as an insomniac. * Dazed & Confused *
A wonderful book, that has many fascinating things to say about the night-time life of our capital down the ages. Rarely has a book on the subject of darkness been so illuminating; all insomniacs should read it. -- Ian Thomson * Standard *
The joy of Beaumont's book is the way it illuminates both literature and urban politics through the splendors and panics of their nighttime journeys. * Flavorwire *
In Nightwalking, Matthew Beaumont rubs shoulders with the deviants, dissidents and dispossessed who lurk in the shadows of Shakespeare, Johnson, Blake and De Quincey. * Evening Standard *
In this teeming and glorious book, Matthew Beaumont probes far into the shadows. -- Alexandra Harris * Times Literary Supplement *
Nothing less than a grand unifying theory of the counter-enlightenment. -- Will Self
One of the most brilliant of the younger generation of English critics. -- Terry Eagleton
This is a book pulsing with life, just as the streets do, despite attempts to cut that liminal, semi-illicit life off. The foreword and afterword, by Will Self, beautifully bracket the book, reinforcing the idea that the city is layered over time, and that each layer is accessible, and can be made vivid in the imagination. Why Nightwalking has not won a major award is beyond mine. -- Nicholas Lezard * The Guardian *
Part literary criticism, part social history, part polemic, this is a haunting addition to the canon of psychogeography. * Financial Times *
He releases an ancient, urban miasma that rises from the page, untroubled by electric illumination, allowing us to inhale what Shakespeare's contemporary Thomas Dekker called 'that thick tobacco-breath which the rheumaticke night throws abroad.' * Independent *
An important and lively book. * Times Higher Education *
A historical guide to the capital, Beaumont details everything including the 'villainous' common nightwalkers and prostitutes of the middle ages and Charles Dickens's time as an insomniac. * Dazed & Confused *
A wonderful book, that has many fascinating things to say about the night-time life of our capital down the ages. Rarely has a book on the subject of darkness been so illuminating; all insomniacs should read it. -- Ian Thomson * Standard *
The joy of Beaumont's book is the way it illuminates both literature and urban politics through the splendors and panics of their nighttime journeys. * Flavorwire *
In Nightwalking, Matthew Beaumont rubs shoulders with the deviants, dissidents and dispossessed who lurk in the shadows of Shakespeare, Johnson, Blake and De Quincey. * Evening Standard *
In this teeming and glorious book, Matthew Beaumont probes far into the shadows. -- Alexandra Harris * Times Literary Supplement *
Matthew Beaumont is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of English at University College London. He is the author of Utopia Ltd.: Ideologies of Social Dreaming in England 1870-1900 (2005), and the co-author, with Terry Eagleton, of The Task of the Critic: Terry Eagleton in Dialogue. He has also edited Restless Cities. He lives and walks in London.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9781781687956 |
| ISBN 10 | 1781687951 |
| Title | Nightwalking |
| Author | Matthew Beaumont |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Hardback |
| Publisher | Verso Books |
| Year published | 2015-03-24 |
| Number of pages | 496 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |