London: City of Disappearances
Edited by Iain Sinclair
An astonishing and enlightening tour through a London you never thought existed.
London is a city of disappearances. Alongside the contemporary city, of noise and celebrity, is that other city – of the dead, the unvoiced, the erased. Here there are fabulous identities and urban myths with real blood and vigour.
Iain Sinclair has long been fascinated by ‘lost’ biographies and myths of place. In London: City of Disappearances he turns away from official versions and approved histories, and, with J. G. Ballard, Will Self, Marina Warner, Michael Moorcock and others, brings to light the fugitive scraps, ragpicker’s bundles, faded newspaper cuttings and patterns in the dust.
‘[London] demands an anthology like this … to remind us of the irascible quirkiness of its residents, and we have Sinclair to thank for marshalling such a perverse and ultimately pleasurable exercise’
The Independent on Sunday
‘A book full of richness, unexpected enticements, short sharp shocks and some breathtaking writing’
The Guardian