by PD Smith
The Guardian (UK)
April 10, 2012
This
collection of Moorcock’s nonfiction spans more than half a century and
includes several pieces published after 2006, the cut-off point for John
Davey’s earlier compilation, Into the Media Web. It includes
some wonderfully intimate articles about Moorcock growing up in south
London during the blitz. The bombed out cityscape, colonised by rosebay
willowherb, was “a wonderland,” a terra incognita to be explored.
Whether
he is describing the bleakness of 1950s London (“all my girlfriends
wore black and thought a lot about suicide”) or the “smugness” and
conformity of modern London (“I like my classes mixed”), Moorcock writes
with genuine love for the city. There are heartfelt pieces on fellow
Londoners JG Ballard, Angela Carter and Iain Sinclair, as well as
authors, such as Edgar Rice Burroughs (“a master tale-spinner”), Philip
K. Dick and Mervyn Peake, whose Titus Groan novels he describes as
“idiosyncratic works of genius.” It’s a pity there’s no index but
nevertheless this is a fine selection.
London Peculiar and Other Nonfiction edited by Michael Moorcock and Allan Kausch is published by Merlin Press, £17.99
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