Writing Britain at the British Library: Wastelands to Wonderlands

The Writing Britain exhibition at The British Library, is a fantastic collection of literary memorabilia of authors old and new.  Private letters, drawings, photos and a plethora of other artefacts really build up a rich collection of insight into the inspiration behind many key works of British literary circles.
  I was particularly impressed by the curation - it took the viewer on a sort of journey through the history of the British Isles, starting with 'Rural Dreams' - we find ourselves transported to a land pre-industrialisation, a land where woodlands covered the hill sides and fields upon fields of wildflower blossom, as far as the eye can see.  It felt like the perfect starting point, after all so much of the British literature we know and love today was pre-industrialisation.  It sort of tied in perfectly with the latest offering on BBC 4 - The Secret History of Our Streets.  Which is a documentary on the Booths mapping system, in which he colour coded the streets of London in relation to different categories i.e. - class.  The Camberwell episode was particularly interesting as it was showing how the area in South London (before the first bridge was built) used to be a village surrounded by countryside, until that is they built the first Bridge and then Camberwell became a fashionable commuter village for the wealthy upperclass of London.

  I not long ago read Virginia Wolfs Orlando and the accounts of changing London are absolutely wonderful, she really takes the reader on a Journey through the history of London's changing appearance; on the early 18th century - "Now the streets that lie between Mayfair and Blackfriars were at the time very imperfectly lit. True, the lighting was a great improvement upon that of the Elizabethan age. Then the benighted traveller had to trust to the stars or the red flame of some night watchman to save him from the gravel pits at Park Lane or the oak woods where swine rootled in the Tottenham Court Road.  But even so it wanted much of our modern efficiency. Lamp-posts lit with oil-lamps occurred every two hundred yards or so, but between lay a considerable stretch of pitch darkness"

  Onto 'Dark Satanic Mills' which presented a selection of literature which was inspired by the now apparent Industrial revolution slowly engulfing the landscape of the once placid British Isles.  Steam trains were ripping through valleys, roads were cutting across fields and factory chimneys were now becoming the cathedral of the modern day worship of manufacturing.  This section interested me because it presented a letter which George Orwell wrote from his lodgings in my hometown of Wigan, while he was writing his famous 'The Road to Wigan Pier'.  I was asking my grandma whilst reading, whether or not his seemingly generalised description of the living standards of pitmen and factory workers was correct or has he merely sensationalised the biased viewpoint he had been subjected to? Maybe the house he was living in was in fact a dirty lodging, but I think it creates stigma which Wigan has possibly found hard to shake off - anyway its history!  My Grandma seemed to think living standards were not as bad as he made out; I remember she told me that while my granddad was working down the pits, he was the cleanest he had ever been because they had in-house showers and baths where the workers could wash themselves after a days work, something which for many working class wasn't even in their own home let alone hot running water to fill them.

  Other sections of the exhibition included; 'Wild Places', 'Beyond the City', 'Cockney Visions' and 'Waterlands'.

  I was particularly drawn to Cockney Visions which has a little section on Psychogeography and how the term Flâneur came into existence, and how within certain aspects of literature it became a sort of doctrine which defined the city dweller or idler who wanders the city streets.  A little bit like me really.
Neil Gaiman's 'Neverwhere' was also presented within the exhibition, which I was thrilled to see, it is but one of the most imaginative fictitious rethinking of the London geography - definitely a must read for London Residents, it will almost make you think twice about your tube journey or your shortcut down a back alley.  

 I want to go back and revisit the exhibition but my ticket only allows for on visit which is rather unfair as it was quite an expensive price of £9.

  Overall the exhibition was rather fantastic and I now have a reading list to contend with - will I ever find the time.  Sometimes I wish that I could just lock myself in a room with a thousand books and read, fill my brain with wonderful knowledge.  Much to my delight there are so many free classic titles to download from Amazon kindle.  Its an absolute treasure trove at the press of a button.  Go and buy!