Smoke lingers round your fingers
Aug. 3rd, 2009 10:52 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ventaI've just been reading, on a friend's recommendation, Stoneheart, by Charlie Fletcher. Which is a children's book, and manages to be impressively dark, understated (in some regards, less so with the giant trampling statues) and extremely funny in places.
What really suckered me in was its incredibly powerful sense of place; it's set in London and written by someone who clearly loves London, and knows it well. Admittedly it's a rather odd London in many ways, which is what made it so endearing. I love flipsidecities, the places geographically recognisable but utterly distinct so that they lure you in with their familiary then delight you with their strangeness.
And, as far as I can tell, one of the best places to do that with in a story is London. There probably are many other cities with a history as rich and various, but in the world of English literature London is a clear frontrunner.
Walking round London, seeing streetnames I recognise from history lessons, I've always felt that there were a thousand other cities bubbling underneath. Bits of the past trying to poke out. Once, lost, I blundered into Trafalgar Square and knew instantly where I was - followed by realising I was still fundamentally lost, as I had no idea where I was in relation to anywhere else. London is a place I walk round, and at the same time a myth and a mystery.
From the bureaucratic magic of Jonathon Stroud to the frankly deranged writing of Ian Sinclair, I've wandered from Hawksmoor church to London Wall and loved the lot. What Philip Pullman did for Oxford was entertaining, but never quite the same (and the scene that stuck with me most from the film was a tiny snapshot of a train-that-never-was shooting over Air Street in, of course, London).
So tell me: what other cities have been made magical with a slight fraying of reality ? Years ago,![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
spindlemere told me that Paul Magrs had tried setting magical realism in Darlington, where I grew up, but I've never quite had the courage to try it. I don't feel London should hog all the limelight, but I don't feel I've ever met anywhere else with quite the depth of... stuff to furnish so many stories.
What have I missed ?
Remember:
- You can't make an omelette, Mr Croup, without...
- Killing a few people, Mr Vandemar.
What really suckered me in was its incredibly powerful sense of place; it's set in London and written by someone who clearly loves London, and knows it well. Admittedly it's a rather odd London in many ways, which is what made it so endearing. I love flipsidecities, the places geographically recognisable but utterly distinct so that they lure you in with their familiary then delight you with their strangeness.
And, as far as I can tell, one of the best places to do that with in a story is London. There probably are many other cities with a history as rich and various, but in the world of English literature London is a clear frontrunner.
Walking round London, seeing streetnames I recognise from history lessons, I've always felt that there were a thousand other cities bubbling underneath. Bits of the past trying to poke out. Once, lost, I blundered into Trafalgar Square and knew instantly where I was - followed by realising I was still fundamentally lost, as I had no idea where I was in relation to anywhere else. London is a place I walk round, and at the same time a myth and a mystery.
From the bureaucratic magic of Jonathon Stroud to the frankly deranged writing of Ian Sinclair, I've wandered from Hawksmoor church to London Wall and loved the lot. What Philip Pullman did for Oxford was entertaining, but never quite the same (and the scene that stuck with me most from the film was a tiny snapshot of a train-that-never-was shooting over Air Street in, of course, London).
So tell me: what other cities have been made magical with a slight fraying of reality ? Years ago,
spindlemere told me that Paul Magrs had tried setting magical realism in Darlington, where I grew up, but I've never quite had the courage to try it. I don't feel London should hog all the limelight, but I don't feel I've ever met anywhere else with quite the depth of... stuff to furnish so many stories. What have I missed ?
Remember:
- You can't make an omelette, Mr Croup, without...
- Killing a few people, Mr Vandemar.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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Date: 2009-08-08 07:04 pm (UTC)And thank you for your lovely wedding card! It arrived yesterday. What a gorgeous card to choose, and thank you so much. We're keeping it with all our wedding things :) Thank you sweets!
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Date: 2009-08-09 11:25 am (UTC)On the other hand - arrived yesterday ? Unless you've moved and it had to be redirected, I shall fume gently at the PO, because I posted it at the end of June!
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Date: 2009-08-10 02:30 pm (UTC)We're paying for mail redirection but the Royal Mail didn't redirect it, and sent it to the old address, where it languished. But it reached us eventually and brought a beam to our day.
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