Soft City Picador Classic

One of the classics of travel writing, Soft City is an exploration of the individual's relationship with urban living. When I finally arrived in London to stay, I felt twice life size. To be an immigrant is to play one’s first and key role in the drama of city life. You are part of a mythology. In Soft City Jonathan Raban arrives in 1970s London and attempts to plot his course through the urban labyrinth. How is it, he asks, that the city – noisy, jostling, overwhelming – leaves us at once so energized and so fragile? In the city we can live deliberately, we can invent and renew ourselves, we can create privacy, and yet we are also afraid of loneliness: we cling to the structures of everyday life in the hope of warding off the chaos. First published in 1974, Soft City is a classic of urban literature. As the world’s cities become increasingly crowded, this extraordinary book – part reportage, part intimate biography – is more relevant than ever. Funny and vivid, this is a prescient exploration of metropolitan existence and our place amongst the masses. `A psychological handbook for urban survival’ Sunday Telegraph `A tour de force’ Jan Morris, Spectator Jonathan Raban's Soft City is a compelling exploration of urban life: a classic in the literature of the city. First published in the 1970s, it is now more relevant to today’s overcrowded planet than ever.With an introduction by Iain Sinclair.In the city we can live deliberately: inventing and renewing ourselves, carving out journeys, creating private spaces. But in the city we are also afraid of being alone, clinging to the structures of daily life to ward off the chaos around us.How is it that the noisy, jostling, overwhelming metropolis leaves us at once so energized and so fragile? In Soft City, Jonathan Raban, one of our most acclaimed novelists and travel writers seeks to find out.'A psychological handbook for urban survival' – Sunday Telegraph