London and the Politics of Memory: In the Shadow of Big Ben

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My mother died on Monday January 30, 2012. When I reached out to shut her sightless eyes the time was exactly 11:55 am. Of this I can be sure thanks to the large clock that I could see through the hospital window. This timepiece had been my constant companion during the three days I had spent at my mother’s bedside. And, five minutes after her final breath, it tolled twelve times. The bell that provided this public pronouncement of a private tragedy is a familiar landmark on the skyline of London and is known the world over as ‘Big Ben’. This experience and the metaphorical shadow cast by the Clock Tower of the Houses of Parliament serve as the inspiration for this study into remembering and forgetting.

The book is due to be published by Ashgate in 2016.
ISBN 978-1-4724-4638-1.

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