Das Kapital is, of course, the big one: in fact, it would be a very good book to lie about having read (see Lying About Books, pts I and II, below). Less known is the work of the younger Frederick Engels, a peer (not a protege as is commonly assumed) of the great Karl Marx. Engels was, first and foremost, a journalist, and he was only 24 when he wrote his account of working class life in England in the mid 19th century. It is called The Conditions of the Working Class in England. I guess he thought a more mellifluous title would have been a bourgeois touch! I bought it recently (it's cued up at no 3 on my reading list), but had a peak at the front page, and was amazed to find a description of the Thames. When people think of the Thames, they generally think of Dickens as its master chronicler in fiction. Come to think of it, Dickens had a lot of the journalist about him too, although he wrote realistic fiction. Anyway, enough of my words: here is what Engels said about the Thames, presumably while sailing upriver:
I know nothing more imposing than the view which the Thames offers during the ascent from the sea to London Bridge. The masses of buildings, the wharves on both sides, especially from Woolwich upwards, the countless ships along both shores, crowding ever close and closer together, until, at last only a narrow passage remains in the middle of the river, passage through which hundreds of steamers shoot by one another; all this is so vast, so impressive, that a man cannot collect himself, but is lost in the marvel of England's greatness before he sets foot upon English soil. FOOT NOTE: This applies to the time of the sailing vessels. The Thames now is a dreary collection of ugly steamers.
It seems as though young Engels is seduced by the props of commerce; but in the next paragraph, the gloom sets in: "These Londoners have been forced to sacrifice the best qualities of their human nature to bring to pass all the marvels of civilisation that crowd their city."
I look forward to reading on...
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The working river in the 19th Century... sounds exciting to me.
ReplyDeleteRiver of death!! In 1878, an accident uncannily similr to that of the Marchioness diaster of 20 years ago occurred. Only in the Victorian crash, about 550 people died - instead of 51.
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