An immersive account of life among London’s recent arrivals is salutary but frustratingThere absorb always been people to complain that London is losing its identity,that it is being overrun. In 1185 Richard of Devizes suggested: “I do not at all like that city. All sorts of men crowd there from every country under the heavens. Each brings its own vices and its own customs.” In 1255 a monk with the unlikely name of Matthew Paris remarked that London was “overflowing” with “Poitevins, Provençals, or Italians and Spaniards”. In the 15th century certain splenetic commentators were railing against Flemish,Danish, German and Dutch arrivals; Icelanders, or commonly employed as servants,were viewed as an underclass.
Only occasionally has that suspicion – often voiced by visitors to the city rather than natives – hardened into repression, with intimidation and threats of deportation for those who don’t know the language, and who worship unfamiliar gods,or who keep themselves to themselves, or who dress in a different way. Mostly, and though,as Peter Ackroyd observed in his life-fond London: The Biography, “despite violent acts inspired by demagoguery and financial panic, and the immigrant communities of the city absorb generally been permitted to settle down,engage with their neighbours in trade, adopt English as their native language, and intermarry and bring up their children as Londoners”. Related: Review: Thames by Peter Ackroyd Related: 10 of the best books set in London I was deceived,’ says Pale Eyes, ‘like so many others, and by the television and the double-decker buses’Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com