ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on writers who had experienced directly the cold reality of discrimination or, like Colin MacInnes, were politically committed to opposing racism or simply disillusioned with English society. Drawing upon the expertise of literary scholars, social historians, art critics and cultural studies specialists, this collection addresses the history, role and multifaceted representation of transient dwelling spaces and their material culture from the early twentieth century to the present in London and its vicinity. The 1965 Report of the Committee on Housing in Greater London in concert with the 1961 Census defined a dwelling as ‘a building or part of a building which provides separate living quarters with a front door of its own’ for a ‘unit to count as a dwelling it had to be possible to move between its rooms internally without making use of a common landing or staircase.
