Nightwalking: A Nocturnal History of London

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There were some nice scenes and moments (such as him waking up and finding himself surrounded by rabbits), and some interesting things to follow up on based on these stories. I appreciated the Marxist analysis of both the history and literature included in the book and I thought it contributed to his argument. I did give this book a really good try, 'gave it my best shot' (ask my friends who had long given up while I plodded on) but alas I didn't last the distance. Similarly, this book’s own title and Beaumont’s discussion personify the night as it haunts London in perpetuity.

In fact, the term ‘common nightwalker’ had become synonymous with ‘prostitute’ by the eighteenth century, whilst male vagrants were chiefly categorised as ‘idlers and vagabonds’ (37). I didn't agree with all his assessments - I wouldn't say shelley is making the case that the skylark is an aesthetic construct, for example,I just think he's saying it has transcended the material realm. Just when you start to think it's getting dull, it picks up pace and you don't want the ride to end.

So erzählt er nicht nur die Geschichte seiner Wanderung, sondern auch die anderer Menschen, die er bewundert. When one thinks of the London night in the present age, iconic images of Westminster, Piccadilly and the Thames Skyline are usually the first to emerge.

In some ways he was hoping to achieve in fiction what he had already spent many hours doing in person. There was and is always something a little bit transgressive about daring to go out after dark, just for the pleasure of it.After all, wouldn't that have been more to the point of the purpose of this book, than for example describing De Quincy walking around in Wales with a tent on his back, that he used to sleep in at night? I’m going to learn to nightwalk from twelve fierce women who already do it, and get to know their worlds in darkness. There are city people who have never seen the stars or known the comfort of being wrapped by night's soft wings. A warning note - don't be put off by Will Self's foreword which, as he so often does, equates cleverness and insight with unreadability. He is the author of Utopia Ltd: Ideologies of Social Dreaming in England 1870 - 1900, and the coauthor, with Terry Eagleton, of The Task of the Critic: Terry Eagleton in Dialogue.

Beyond the first two chapters, the majority of the book tends to focus on nightwalkers from the upper end of the social scale, who are referred to as ‘noctambulants’: those nightwalkers whose pedestrianism was of an optional, rather than necessary, nature. I’m not a great nature fan or walker but the sights and sounds (and sometimes smells) are wonderfully evocative. It is accepted by you that Daunt Books has no control over additional charges in relation to customs clearance. In Nightwalking Matthew Beaumont recounts an alternative history of London-populated by the poor, the mad, the lost, the vagrant and the noctambulant. How going outside at night without an explicit reason went from being a crime to a leisurely pastime of gentlefolk.There is something very quiet and immediate about night time walks and these are perfect to listen to before falling asleep. I have seen a moon-bow, an arch of white light in the heavens; I have watched hares box in a star-charmed, wave-earthed plough field; I have learned our human insignificance by gazing up at the cosmic sprawl of the Milky Way. The most surprising revelation of Beaumont’s book is how recently we have come to regard nightwalking with anything other than suspicion and alarm.

For more details, please consult the latest information provided by Royal Mail's International Incident Bulletin. Description of 4 night walks, one each season, interspersed with sections from a nature journal and poems.However, in actuality, the criminalisation of nightwalking was only applied to the poor and homeless, whilst the prosperous were free to walk the dark streets at will. I enjoyed the notes from individual nights more than the four cores stories, but was left confused by the format. A pretty sequence of vignettes describing nighttime walks taken in the author's local countryside and the wildlife encountered thereupon. This is my first experience reading John Lewis-Stempel and though I did have to slow down and reread some lines, to really 'get it', I found him stimulating and enjoyable company. The author himself mentions not wanting to become too accustomed to the night lest it loses its power (the "explorer's wonder").