"Imagined London: A Tour of the World's Greatest Fictional City" by Anna Quindlen (published 2006)
This is exactly the kind of book about London, England that I didn't know I was looking for. I've been avoiding travel books for the most part and have instead been mapping out places on my own that I'd like to go (during my honeymoon this May!) based off of books I've read and movies I've seen. For example, the Hundred Acre Wood that A.A. Milne based his Winnie-the-Pooh tales off of (it's a real place) and Merlin's cave (real too). I scoped out some venues where my husband and I can try falconry, as I was inspired by Helen MacDonald's nonfiction book on the subject, "H is for Hawk" (and her love for her hawk Mable). I'm thrilled to visit as many castles as possible, particularly because of Queen Victoria and the Victorian Era, after having read Daisy Goodwin's biography and then watching the PBS series (Kensington Palace, here I come!). Wilkie Collins' "The Woman in White" makes me excited to see large residential English homes, smaller ones down hidden streets, preferably gloomy streets, and the eerie English moors, and even English graveyards. Speaking of moors... I think of Francis Hodsgson Burnett's "The Secret Garden".... my favorite film as a child (still haven't read the book, but have you seen the 1987 Hallmark film? It's my absolute favorite)... and speaking of gardens, I remember Virginia Woolf's "Kew Gardens" and scenes from Charlotte Bronte's "Jane Eyre", one of my favorite books of all time. Still more that I know I must be forgetting. Oh yes, Bed-Knobs and Broomsticks. Alice's Wonderland.
Anna Quindlen's "Imagined London" just amped up all of that energy I already have stowed away for our trip, filling in all my blanks with her insightful commentary on Dickensian London (it is not as dreary as he saw it), the rise of the modern over the antiquated (especially in architecture), thoughts on Henry James... thoughts on language - which she says is *not* the same as what we speak here in America - and I believe her. Pointing out things like "sod off" coming from the word sodomy (but not to be taken seriously) or the word "trunk" being the "boot" of the car. She breaks down the bad stereotype of the English not being known for their food. Quindlen promises good food, of course including the expected tea, high tea, cucumber sandwiches, mutto. But there are other delectable things I have previously never heard of but can't wait to try. She also tackles the question of globalization in London, and how this fares with the antiquity that is so beloved in their land. An interesting point worth noting: that previous generations of English literature were able to capture class tension a lot more precisely than today, with contemporary writers being much more interested in race. Lastly, "Imagined London" follows the same premise I have for traveling to England - see London for what it is, that is the literary hub of the world.
She speaks lovingly of well-known places, like Royal Albert Hall and the British Museum. She speaks just as lovingly about lesser known places, like Poets Corner. She asks us to beware the places or street corners of mass commodification (silly t-shirts that could literally be sold anywhere, with no hint of place regarded in them) and to look deeper for the real and the good stuff, which she promises is not hard to find. The sunlight is different there, she says. She also reminds us to take a step back and understand the magnitude of this country. Its history of violence because of politics and because of "natural" causes, such as war, famine, disease, and the monarchy. What England has gone through, as shown its in rich literary canon, can never be dwarfed. Whereas in the United States buildings are torn down for the sake of postmodernity and the triumph of art, in England buildings were *bombed* down and their newly built artistic architecture, sometimes glaringly modern, is saying something more, something that always, always speaks to its past. Reminding us of it. "Rising on the bones of the antique" Quindlen writes. Asking us not to forget.
England is old, yes. But by no means behind. Because England is intelligent enough to bring its history to the forefront and merge it with the present, the future rings true and clear and loud. It is fully present. The U.S. would do well to be more open about its past. England is old enough that it can have a sense of humor about itself, not take itself too seriously, yet all the while holding the gravity and responsibility for all its atrocities... I mean, the Tower of London *boasts* its executions. It's all right there at the front. Can the U.S. do the same? Only time will tell.
I can't wait to go to England and experience it all for myself. I can't wait to come back home to America with a fresh set of eyes, hopefully bringing back something quite new.
Anna Quindlen's "Imagined London" is not for the tourist. It is for the traveller and the explorer. It is an ode to travel that encourages the life of the mind and the enrichment of soul. She tells us about the nature of the common people and the episodic nature of discovering a new place, this place called England, which many of us love for its writers and their books.
Anna Quindlen's "Imagined London" just amped up all of that energy I already have stowed away for our trip, filling in all my blanks with her insightful commentary on Dickensian London (it is not as dreary as he saw it), the rise of the modern over the antiquated (especially in architecture), thoughts on Henry James... thoughts on language - which she says is *not* the same as what we speak here in America - and I believe her. Pointing out things like "sod off" coming from the word sodomy (but not to be taken seriously) or the word "trunk" being the "boot" of the car. She breaks down the bad stereotype of the English not being known for their food. Quindlen promises good food, of course including the expected tea, high tea, cucumber sandwiches, mutto. But there are other delectable things I have previously never heard of but can't wait to try. She also tackles the question of globalization in London, and how this fares with the antiquity that is so beloved in their land. An interesting point worth noting: that previous generations of English literature were able to capture class tension a lot more precisely than today, with contemporary writers being much more interested in race. Lastly, "Imagined London" follows the same premise I have for traveling to England - see London for what it is, that is the literary hub of the world.
She speaks lovingly of well-known places, like Royal Albert Hall and the British Museum. She speaks just as lovingly about lesser known places, like Poets Corner. She asks us to beware the places or street corners of mass commodification (silly t-shirts that could literally be sold anywhere, with no hint of place regarded in them) and to look deeper for the real and the good stuff, which she promises is not hard to find. The sunlight is different there, she says. She also reminds us to take a step back and understand the magnitude of this country. Its history of violence because of politics and because of "natural" causes, such as war, famine, disease, and the monarchy. What England has gone through, as shown its in rich literary canon, can never be dwarfed. Whereas in the United States buildings are torn down for the sake of postmodernity and the triumph of art, in England buildings were *bombed* down and their newly built artistic architecture, sometimes glaringly modern, is saying something more, something that always, always speaks to its past. Reminding us of it. "Rising on the bones of the antique" Quindlen writes. Asking us not to forget.
England is old, yes. But by no means behind. Because England is intelligent enough to bring its history to the forefront and merge it with the present, the future rings true and clear and loud. It is fully present. The U.S. would do well to be more open about its past. England is old enough that it can have a sense of humor about itself, not take itself too seriously, yet all the while holding the gravity and responsibility for all its atrocities... I mean, the Tower of London *boasts* its executions. It's all right there at the front. Can the U.S. do the same? Only time will tell.
I can't wait to go to England and experience it all for myself. I can't wait to come back home to America with a fresh set of eyes, hopefully bringing back something quite new.
Anna Quindlen's "Imagined London" is not for the tourist. It is for the traveller and the explorer. It is an ode to travel that encourages the life of the mind and the enrichment of soul. She tells us about the nature of the common people and the episodic nature of discovering a new place, this place called England, which many of us love for its writers and their books.
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