"We Who Live Below and Between"

There is an entire city underneath Seattle. When I was growing up, this was one of my favorite places to visit. I would walk through the shadowy tunnels, look up through the cracked glass the sun had turned violet, and wonder what it would be like to live down there, in that alternate Seattle.   

I recently read Ekaterina Sedia's lovely book The Secret History of Moscow (for the review, please click here). Moscow, it seems, also has a city beneath the city -- an old city, layered with fractured histories and half-forgotten gods. Strange and dark, this Moscow beneath was more real, more alive than the Moscow of the real world.

Sedia is not the only author to write about a city beneath a city. China Miéville's Un Lun Dun (reviewed here) takes place in an alternate London; Tappan King's Down Town takes place underneath the city of New York; Lisa Goldstein creates an underworld connected by the subway systems of cities around the world in Dark Cities Underground; and there is, of course, the book from which I borrowed the title of this post, Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere, which takes place in London Below.

These stories are not the first to take place in fantastic worlds that touch the real world so closely that one could get to them by falling through a puddle or opening a door. Alice, after all, fell down a rabbit hole. And I am certain I am not the only one who carefully explored the back of closets, hoping to step into a snowy wood and meet a faun. But the difference between Wonderland and Narnia and Sedia's Moscow or London Below is that while Narnia and Wonderland bordered the real world close enough to touch, they were decidedly different places. More than that, as marvelous as they were, they were just settings. The cities in Sedia's, Miéville's, and Gaiman's books are beyond place, very nearly character. It is as if Neverwhere has begun a genre of the fantasy of place, where real cities are set on a slant in order to let the magic in.

Perhaps under the city is replacing the archetypal into the woods in an increasingly urban world. Or perhaps cities have lives, too. In the shadows. Under the violet lights. Below.

*The image above is from artist Peter Milton's "Hidden Cities Series." Stop by and visit Miltn's website to see more of his incredible imaginary worlds.

Comments

[Carl V.]

Neverwhere is one of my most favorite books of all time. I read it at least once a year and am in the process right now of having Neil read it to me via the recently released audio version of the book. I love the idea of underground cities. There was an article a few years ago about the Moscow underground and a series of shows on the History Channel a few months back were wonderful. I forever kick myself for not knowing about and hence visiting the underground city when I was in Seattle. There simply will have to be a next time!

How annoying that neither the Pasadena Public Library nor the Los Angeles Public Library ever seem to have the books you recommend! Grrrrr...

[William Lexie]

Thanks for reintroducing to Peter Milton 's work , I bookmarked the site, a great inspiration for my own work .

[Midori]

Dear Anonymous above: It's possible the library doesn't "yet" have the books we review which are all new titles. Libraries are about six months behind buying, logging in, and shelving new books. You might mention the titles to the librarian and request that they get added to their list of new purchases.