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Soft City (Paperback)

by Jonathan Raban (Author)
5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)

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Product details

  • Paperback: 256 pages
  • Publisher: The Harvill Press; New edition edition (21 May 1998)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 1860461077
  • ISBN-13: 978-1860461071
  • Product Dimensions: 19.3 x 13 x 1.8 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 532,707 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Product Description

Amazon.co.uk Review

Jonathan Raban's 1997 novel Bad Land won both the National Book Critics Circle Award and the PEN Award for Creative Non-fiction. Soft City, a work dating back to 1974, contains much of the same award-winning style of narrative, wit and compassion for the subject.

Meticulously researched, Soft City is an insider's guide to the stresses and strains of city life. Flicking between many cities, but primarily London and New York, the reader is shown the true horror and, to an extent, joy of life in a modern metropolis. The reasons why people flock to cities, why some stay and why some leave are some of the many topics covered. Raban's observations are all too real. His sharp, poignant wit gracefully lightens his factual presentation. Raban's dialogue is truly a joy to read. Overheard conversations in restaurants and muffled voices heard through unsubstantial walls are penned in a lively, if not voyeuristic, form. This is a surprising page-turner from beginning to end, and a real classic in the literature of the city. It may be advisable not to live in or visit a conurbation without a copy. --Jon Smith



Evening Standard

'A brilliant book about how we all construct our own different versions of London'. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
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29 of 29 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A book about the City as memory, 1 Aug 2001
By A Customer
Jonathan Raban's book Soft City is a survival manual for living in the modern city. It takes you on a journey into memory and explains how your own 'soft city' is built from memories of the streets you have actually visited or streets you imagine; those you have loved and are gone. The book describes like no other has done before how we negotiate our own 'soft city'and how my city is different from yours and everyone else's. How we build associations with places, corners, alleyways and how this builds a familiarity without which we fail to survive our visit to the city. The book goes on to describe this mind construction as a kind of stage set that we create and in which we play out our part; some of us succeed at this game but many of us suffer from a sense of dislocation and lack of community. All cities are theatres; all cities have their stories - how do you play your part?

Victor Benjamin has also written about his fascination with the city but Jonathan brings Benjamin up to date as our cities today change so quickly, sometimes on a daily basis, through construction and demolition, as more and more our remembered city is changed beyond recognition.

I am an artist and photographer and was inspired by this book and it enabled me to come to terms with my feelings of dislocation within the city. Sometimes I would revisit certain loved places in order to photograph them only to find them gone. I will never forget this book as it explains the modern phenomenon of living and surviving in the city and it enabled me to walk around my familiar places with a sense of longing and fondness; a fondness for what they may be in years to come. Those loved and remembered places that would disappear some day.

A text book for all scholars of the city and literature, history and contemporary mythology.

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