Abstract
Peter Ackroyd’s Hawksmoor (1985) and The House of Dr. Dee (1993) are examples of a distinctive British form of contemporary experimental historical fiction, and through representations of London they explore the popular dimension of early modernity, showing how the capital’s spaces both embodied and produced multiple modernity, as well as the unsung pre-modern allegiances that critiqued modern forms. While the novels’ respective Renaissance and post-Restoration settings allow them to explore different stages in the development of both London modernity and resistant forms, their juxtaposition of early and late modern narratives establishes a compelling parallel between early modern and late twentieth-century London. Both sets of narratives also stage a shift away from modern forms towards inherited pre-modern allegiances, connecting this to a new relationship with the capital’s inheritance of pre-Reformation and Gothic built space, as well as an equivalent tradition of London writing, one in which Ackroyd’s novels themselves participate.
Highlights
Peter Ackroyd’s Hawksmoor (1985) and The House of Dr Dee (1993) are examples of a distinctive British form of contemporary experimental historical fiction, and through representations of London they explore the popular dimension of early modernity, showing how the capital’s spaces both embodied and produced multiple modernity, as well as the unsung pre-modern allegiances that critiqued modern forms
Important is the fact that Ackroyd’s fiction critiques dominant social and cultural forms and outlines possible alternatives, whereas Hutcheon maintains that historiographic metafiction cannot move beyond internal subversion to develop effective models of agency (Politics 168)
Due to elements such as these, Ackroyd’s novels have figured prominently in the studies of critics like Amy Elias, Geoffrey Lord and Aleid Fokkema, all of whom have set out to define a distinctive British form of contemporary experimental historical fiction, one in which continuing commitment to the representation of the past combines with a self-conscious awareness that the discursive identities of fiction and history, as well as the fragmentary nature of the historical record, forestall a full or objective account
Summary
Peter Ackroyd’s Hawksmoor (1985) and The House of Dr Dee (1993) are examples of a distinctive British form of contemporary experimental historical fiction, and through representations of London they explore the popular dimension of early modernity, showing how the capital’s spaces both embodied and produced multiple modernity, as well as the unsung pre-modern allegiances that critiqued modern forms.
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