fiction about gentrification
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noel emits
a wonderful wooden reason
Can't think of any but would this genre be called 'gentrifiction'?
Michael Frayn's End of the Morning, and Jonathan Raban's Soft City are good for gentrifcation in London during 1960s and 1970s (where the term and concept first were used). Now you can argue a lot of literature set in contemporary inner cities deal with its manifestations and consequences. For London, Going East by Matthew d'Ancona (the Spectator writer) immediately springs to mind.
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Gentrifiction! I love it.
Thanks for the recommendations, worrior. I read Soft City a few months ago and—you're right on the money—it was helpful in delineating some of the distinctions between 1970s and contemporary gentrification, although admittedly these are often more evident in what Raban does not write.
Might as well throw Jane Jacobs' The Death and Life of Great American Cities out there, which at times reads like a theoretical seedbed for the first wave of gentrification. (Not that interested in the American side of things, though.)
Do you know if there's any Ballard that might fit the bill? High Rise came to mind, although in the end the architectural phenomenon it describes doesn't seem to represent a gentrifying force, but rather one of Ballard's vague and affluent non-places.
Thanks for the recommendations, worrior. I read Soft City a few months ago and—you're right on the money—it was helpful in delineating some of the distinctions between 1970s and contemporary gentrification, although admittedly these are often more evident in what Raban does not write.
Might as well throw Jane Jacobs' The Death and Life of Great American Cities out there, which at times reads like a theoretical seedbed for the first wave of gentrification. (Not that interested in the American side of things, though.)
Do you know if there's any Ballard that might fit the bill? High Rise came to mind, although in the end the architectural phenomenon it describes doesn't seem to represent a gentrifying force, but rather one of Ballard's vague and affluent non-places.
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STN
sou'wester
Well, apparently it's a theme in Absolute Beginners by Colin MacInnes but I've never been able to see it myself, maybe it's a theme in the film, I don't know.
I seem to remember Michael di Larabetti's 'Borribles' trilogy being a fairly explicit allegory for gentrification (the first book anyway) as a load of well spoken giant rats try to move from the suburbs to the inner city. As they're kids' books however, they don't go very far into causes/consequences of gentrification and stick to a kind of 'gentrification is bad and should be stopped' message, which was probably quite helpful to me reading as a child but wouldn't be now.
Looking back on this post I see that I've been no help whatsoever.
Oh well.
I seem to remember Michael di Larabetti's 'Borribles' trilogy being a fairly explicit allegory for gentrification (the first book anyway) as a load of well spoken giant rats try to move from the suburbs to the inner city. As they're kids' books however, they don't go very far into causes/consequences of gentrification and stick to a kind of 'gentrification is bad and should be stopped' message, which was probably quite helpful to me reading as a child but wouldn't be now.
Looking back on this post I see that I've been no help whatsoever.
Oh well.