Writing the Thames

Synopsis

Thames Aficionado Robert Gibbings Once Wrote That 'the Quiet Of An Age-old River Is Like The Slow Turning Of The Pages Of A Well-loved Book'. Writing The Thames Tells A Much-loved River's Story Through The Remarkable Prose, Poetry And Illustration That It Has Inspired: From Julius Caesar's Crossing In 55 Bce And Elizabeth I's Stand Against The Spanish At Tilbury To The Many Congenial Riverside Retreats For Authors Ranging From Thomas More To Alexander Pope, Henry James And William Morris. A Chapter On Messing About In Boats Tells The Story Of William Hogarth's Impulsive Five-day River Trip With Four Inebriated Friends And Features Satirical Novels Such As Three Men In A Boat. The River Has Also Inspired Some Of The Best Children's Literature Like The Wind In The Willows And Naturalists Such As Richard Jeffries And C.j. Cornish. But There Are Dark Undercurrents Too: Charles Dickens's Use Of Its Waters As A Symbol Of Death, Sax Rohmer's Limehouse Villain Dr Fu Manchu And The Many Fictional Criminals Who Dispose Of Corpses In Its Sinister Depths In Detective Novels Ranging From Sherlock Holmes To Inspector Morse. Beautifully Illustrated, This Book Celebrates The Writers Who Have Helped To Make England's Greatest River An Enduring Legend.--dust Jacket Flap. Liquid History -- Topographers And Tourists -- Writers' Retreats -- Messing About In Boats -- Naturalists On The Thames -- Dead In The Water -- Rhyming The River -- Writing The Thames Today. Christina Hardyment. Includes Bibliographical References And Index.