The Oxford Book of London by Paul Bailey
All great cities inspire great literature, but no other city has so consistently stimulated the literary imagination as London. Over the centuries writers, poets, historians, artists, and simple observers have chronicled the life and growth of the capital from its humble beginnings to the teeming metropolis it is today. In his sparkling anthology Paul Bailey has captured the essence of its allure for visitors and inhabitants from the Middle Ages to the present day with wit, humour, and pathos. Among the many contributors are those whose evocations of the city have forever fixed it in the popular mind: Charles Dickens's descriptions of fog-bound London streets, the bustle and hustle of the Victorian city; Ben Jonson's satires on London low-life; William Wordsworth rhapsodizing on the view from Westminster Bridge; George Bernard Shaw's archetypal Cockney, Eliza Doolittle. Less well known but equally vivid are descriptions of everyday life for the down and out and the aristocrat, of the museums, theatres, galleries and churches, the restaurants and pubs, the parks and institutions, the topography of London mapped out in unforgettable verse and prose. The great set pieces, Daniel Defoe's description of the Plague year, John Evelyn's and Samuel Pepys's daily records of the Great Fire, are among several other eye-witness accounts of coronations and funerals, unequalled in their immediacy. The bemusement of foreign visitors, the joys and horrors of London buses and the London Underground, the sprawl of the suburbs and the excitement of the City, all add to the dazzling panorama. This book is intended for general anthology buyers, readers interested in the literature and history of London, tourists, fans of Paul Bailey.
Sydney D. Bailey is a Visiting Research Scholar with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and a member of the Foreign Office Advisory Committee on the UN and Disarmament. Sam Daws is Head of the UN and Conflict Program at the United Nations Association in London.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9780192141927 |
| ISBN 10 | 0192141929 |
| Title | The Oxford Book of London |
| Author | Paul Bailey |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Hardback |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press |
| Year published | 1995-10-01 |
| Number of pages | 395 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |