First published by Verso 2020

© Matthew Beaumont 2020

All rights reserved

The moral rights of the author have been asserted

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Verso

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US: 20 Jay Street, Suite 1010, Brooklyn, NY 11201

versobooks.com

Verso is the imprint of New Left Books

ISBN-13: 978-1-78873-891-0

ISBN-13: 978-1-78873-894-1 (US EBK)

ISBN-13: 978-1-78873-893-4 (UK EBK)

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Beaumont, Matthew, 1972– author.

Title: The walker : on finding and losing yourself in the modern city / Matthew Beaumont.

Description: London ; New York : Verso, 2020. | Includes bibliographical references and index. | Summary: ‘Whether one considers Dickens’s insomniac night-time perambulations or restless excursions through the faceless monuments of today’s neoliberal city, the act of walking is one of self-discovery and escape, of disappearances and secret subversions. Pacing stride for stride alongside literary amblers and thinkers such as Edgar Allan Poe, André Breton, H. G. Wells, Virginia Woolf, Jean Rhys, and Ray Bradbury, Beaumont explores the relationship between the metropolis and its pedestrian life’ – Provided by publisher.

Identifiers: LCCN 2020024743 (print) | LCCN 2020024744 (ebook) | ISBN 9781788738910 (hardback) | ISBN 9781788738941 (US ebk) | ISBN 9781788738934 (UK ebk)

Subjects: LCSH: English literature – 19th century – History and criticism. | Walking in literature. | City and town life in literature. | Pedestrians in literature. | Walking – England – History – 19th century. |
England – Civilization – 19th century. | Modernism (Literature) – Great Britain.

Classification: LCC PR468.W35 B43 2020 (print) | LCC PR468.W35

(ebook) |

DDC 820.9 – dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020024743

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020024744

Typeset in Sabon by MJ & N Gavan, Truro, Cornwall
Printed in the UK by CPI Group (UK) Ltd, Croydon CR0 4YY