The Last London : True Fictions From an Unreal City

Iain Sinclair has been documenting the peculiar magic of the river-city that absorbs and obsesses him for most of his adult life. In The Last London, he strikes out on a series of solitary walks and collaborative expeditions to make a final reckoning with a capital stretched beyond recognition. Here is a mesmerising record of secret scholars and whispering ghosts. Of disturbing encounters. Night hospitals. Pits that become cameras. Mole Man labyrinths. And privileged swimming pools, up in clouds, patrolled by surveillance helicopters. Where now are the myths, the ultimate fictions of a many times revised city? Travelling from the pinnacle of the Shard to the outer limits of the London Overground system at Croydon and Barking, from the Thames Estuary to the future ruins of Olympicopolis, Sinclair reflects on where London begins and where it ends. A memoir, a critique and a love letter, The Last London stands as a delirious conclusion to a truly epic project. A New Statesman Book of the Year London. A city apart. Inimitable. Or so it once seemed. Spiralling from the outer limits of the Overground to the pinnacle of the Shard, Iain Sinclair encounters a metropolis stretched beyond recognition. The vestiges of secret tunnels, the ghosts of saints and lost poets lie buried by developments, the cycling revolution and Brexit. An electrifying final odyssey, The Last London is an unforgettable vision of the Big Smoke before it disappears into the air of memory. Iain Sinclair Has Been Documenting The Peculiar Magic Of The River City That Absorbs And Obsesses Him For Most Of His Adult Life. In 'the Last London', Sinclair Strikes Out On A Series Of Solitary Walks And Collaborative Expeditions To Make A Final Reckoning With A Capital Stretched Beyond Recognition. Iain Sinclair. Includes Bibliographical References (pages 317-318) And Index. Losing. Dancers on the beach ; HMS Haggerston Park ; By weight of water ; After Sebald -- Finding. Digging for victory ; Overground soundscrape ; Pigeon fishing ; Free breakfast for bikes ; Two swimming pools or, Shardenfreude ; Voice of the huts -- Walking. The Milky Way (to Croydon) ; Downriver ; Absolutely barking ; Night hospital ; Gummed eyes ; Brexit means Brexit Iain Sinclair has been documenting the peculiar magic of the river city that absorbs and obsesses him for most of his adult life. In [this book], Sinclair strikes out on a series of solitary walks and collaborative expeditions to make a final reckoning with a capital stretched beyond recognition The final chapter in Sinclair's life-long odyssey through the streets of the Big Smoke