Literary Walk in London

Once Chelsea was outside of London. There was a big residence of Thomas More in Chelsea. The place might be where Chelsea Old Church stands now, I guess. In the movie, 'A Man for All Seasons', Thomas More comes and goes to Westminster by small boat.

Chelsea Old Church

Thomas More's Statue

Battersea Bridge

if you cross the Battersea Bridge, near Chelsea Old Church, to the south shore of the Thames, and turn right soon, the street is Battersea Church Road. The twin sister and brother, Eliza and Sammy, who were orphans, were living in a tiny room, little more than a closet, dark and damp above the Swindells' bottle shop. The twin had to work servilely. One day they played the Jack the Ripper game. When Eliza went close to the Thames and turned around, Sammy was not there. (The forgotten Garden by Kate Morton) Now this Battersea Church Road is a quiet residential area and there is nothing left of the story.

Battersea Church Road

The Thames from Battersea Church Road

Jake was living in an attic of Magdalen's house with Finn who was like Jake's servant and shadow. Magdalen who was a girlfriend of Jake's got a new boyfriend. One day she told Jake that he had to go from her house, now, today because she was going to get married to the boyfriend. Jake was suddenly thrown out of the attic and he wandered in London to seek a place to stay. 'Under the Net' that is Iris Murdoch's first novel begins from Earl's Court Road where Magdalen's house was.

Jake with his friends, Finn and Dave, went to look for his friend Hugo at pubs around St Paul's Cathedral. He couldn't find Hugo, but he met Lefty who was a leader of socialism. They went to the Thames and swam together in the river at dusk. It is one of the impressive scenes in this book. But the street from St Paul's Cathedral to the Thames is a business district and I couldn't find any places to go down to the Thames now.

Earl's Court Road

Peter's Hill

The Thames River

Perowne is a successful neurosurgeon, his wife is a lawyer for a newspaper, her father is a prestigious poet. Daisy, Perowne's daughter, is a young gifted poet and Teo, his son, is a gifted blues musician. On the other hand, a street gang Baxter is uneducated and has unhappy circumstances and the incurable hereditary illness, Huntington's disease. Baxter has no hope and it's not his fault. Ian McEwan depicted the contrast with the lucky family and the unlucky young man in his masterpiece 'Saturday'. In the day when the large demonstration against Iraq War was taking place in London, Perowne went into University Street to avoid the demonstration march. And then, his Benz encountered with Baxter's BMW at the crossing at Huntley Street as a minor accident. 'Saturday' by Ian McEwan begins at this crossing.

the Crossing of University Street and Hurtley Street

UCL is near the crossing. Soseki Natsume went to UCL more than 100 years ago. I couldn't visit Soseki Museum in London.

UCL

Tavistock Square Gardens is in the east of UCL. Virginia Woolf bust stands here with Gandhi statue. The Charles Dickens Museum is not far from the park, but I couldn't go. I didn't have enough time to enjoy London.

Virginia Woolf Bust

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