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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.

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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

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´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 students and academics working on ´Contemporary´ London literature, and English literature more generally.´ - Alex Murray, University of Exeter, UK

´Sebastian Groes´ groundbreaking book [is] a highly detailed and meticulous study of [...] the major shifts and developments in London novels since the early 1980s. The Making of London covers a wide scope in terms of authors, narration and critical praxis, and is hence an asset for English literature students and academics alike.´ - Sebnem Toplu, Interactions

´Groes´s study is thorough and significant for its examination of writers of varied trends and traditions. It proves a most valuable contribution to studies of contemporary writing about London.´ - Vanessa Guignery, Études britanniques contemporaines

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SEBASTIAN GROES is Lecturer in English Literature at Roehampton University, London, UK. He has written extensively on modern and contemporary fiction, the London novel, and edited collections including Ian McEwan (Continuum, 2009), Kazuo Ishiguro (Continuum, 2010), Julian Barnes (2011) and Kazuo Ishiguro: Critical Visions of the Novels (Palgrave, 2011).

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