In this brilliant work of literary investigation, Matthew Beaumont shines a light on the shadowy perambulations of poets, novelists and thinkers: the fetid, treacherous streets known to Chaucer and Shakespeare; William Blake and his ecstatic peregrinations; the feverish ramblings of opium addict Thomas De Quincey; and, among the lamp-lit literary throng, the supreme nightwalker Charles Dickens. We discover how the nocturnal city has inspired some and served as a balm or narcotic to others. In each case, the city is revealed as a place divided between work and pleasure, the affluent and the indigent, where the entitled and the desperate rub shoulders.
| ISBN: | 9781804298480 |
| Publication date: | 22nd July 2025 |
| Author: | Matthew Beaumont |
| Publisher: | Verso |
| Format: | Paperback |
| Pagination: | 496 pages |
| Genres: |
Literary studies: general Walking, hiking, trekking |