List of Illustrations Acknowledgements List of Abbreviations Introduction From 'Ellowen Deeowen' to 'Babylondon': London is a Language 'Fabricked Out Of Literature and Myth': Maureen Duffy's Londons 'Of Real Experience Mixed with Myth': Michael Moorcock 'A Zoo Fit for Psychopaths': J.G. Ballard versus London 'Struck Out of Pure Invention': Iain Sinclair's London 'In Pre-Ordained Patterns': Peter Ackroyd's London Palimpsests 'Beyond the Responsibility of Place': Ian McEwan's Londons 'In a Prose so Diagonal and Mood Warped': Martin Amis's London Scatology 'Through a Confusion of Languages': Salman Rushdie and Hanif Kureishi 'Kyan you Imagine Dat?': The New London Languages of Zadie Smith and Monica Ali Conclusion: London Undone? Chronology of Contemporary London Notes Bibliography Index