Soft City is the first book written by Jonathan Raban

Jonathan Raban

Jonathan Raban is a British travel writer and novelist. He has received several awards, such as the National Book Critics Circle Award, The Royal Society of Literature's Heinemann Award, the Thomas Cook Travel Book Award, the PEN West Creative Nonfiction Award, the Pacific Northwest Booksellers...

, and published by The Harvill Press in 1974

1974 in literature

The year 1974 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*The Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics is founded by Allen Ginsberg and Anne Waldman.-New books:*Richard Adams - Shardik*Kingsley Amis - Ending Up...

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Synopsis

Soft City records one man's attempt to plot a course through the urban labyrinth. Holding up a revealing mirror to the modern city, it is used as the locale for a demanding and expressive personal drama.

Jonathan Raban’s soft city is the malleable material from which identity is formed. “It
invites you to remake it, to consolidate it into a shape you can live in . . . Decide who
you are, and the city will again assume a fixed form around you.” This soft city is the
mythic city, where illusion, dream, aspiration, and nightmare are all fixed into place; it
comes into focus as it is passed through and acted upon by an individual or a collective.
Where is the ‘Soft City” now? – Feb 2007
Introduced by Tim Waterman
Hosted by Andrew Stuck, Rethinking Cities Ltd.