A Performer vs. an Observer: A Landscape of London depicted by Samuel Selvon Yasuaki KITAHARA Samuel Selvon (1923-94), born at a creolized Indian family in Trinidad, is one of the representative novelists in the former British West Indies. Selvon wrote ten novels, three of which, Lonely Londoners (1956), Moses Ascending (1975) and Moses Migrating (1992), deal with immigrant people from the West Indies to London over three decades of the post-war period. During these decades British immigration policies have undergone a sea change. The immigration promotion of the later 1940s came to an end in 1962 when the number and qualification of immigrants were limited under the new immigration Act. It was followed by the further strict 1971 Act implemented under Enoch Powell’s advocacy. Moses, the main character through the above three novels, represents the immigrants who try to commit themselves to the British community, while suffering from the vicissitude of the times and the change of governmental policies. Via Moses’s experiences, Selvon depicts the gulf between dream and reality, daily hardship, racial prejudices and identity crisis of the immigrants. In the landscape of London the features of the West Indians and deep-rooted white/black prejudices appear to come up more vividly. Controlling excessive politicization, Selvon covers the serious and tragic themes with humor, irony and pathos. This essay is a trial to look into a small West Indian community in London, penned by a masterly hand of Samuel Selvon.