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Loading... Albionby Peter Ackroyd
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will love Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. What a dreadful book. A mountain of snippets of information, some of it possibly very interesting, but with no structure, no sense of connectivity between all the data. Must have been published on the basis of the author’s reputation from his other books, because this one is a shocker. Read February 2008 ( )Ackroyd is a great writer with plenty to say. This book is a must have for anyone studying English literature and its history. Should be used with first year English classes-impeccable British writing and teaches fundementals of each movement. Engagingly written, Peter Ackroyd does an admirable job of trying to explore a subject as slippery as 'The English Imagination'. Despite his skill, I am not sure he brings it off. While there is a wealth of interesting and original scholarship in this book, I find that often he draws the bow a little too long, linking ideas or images that don't really hang together as an example of enduring 'Englishness'. I admit part of my problem is coming from an English/British based culture, so some of what I may consider 'universal' may be, as Ackroyd suggests, 'English'. But reading this book I found that it often seemed he was shoe-horning information into a pre-conceived notion rather than analysing the facts. That said, this is still an interesting read, if you come to it with an open mind. I must confess, I'm finding this rather heavy going in the section on the Anglo-Saxons. I can't help but wonder, though, how much of the elements in "Englishness" that Ackroyd suggests, such as a love of the marvellous, of surface decoration, and of intricate oratory, and a rootedness in place, are general characteristics of "European-ness" or even just "human-ness". Now that Ackroyd has given examples of how English authors adapted continental models, I can see better what he's getting at. I still think, though, that what he picks out as essentially English traits such as the adoption and adaptation of past and foreign models, and a love for the past are general human traits rather than specifically English. Having read the whole thing now, I can see the recurring themes better. There are definitely resonances with Kate Fox's "Watching the English". no reviews | add a review
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Peter Ackroyd follows his acclaimed London: The Biography with a book that once again plumbs the history of England and uncovers the continuities that link past and present. A dazzling, highly original exploration of English culture from its roots in the Anglo-Saxon period to the present day, ALBION demonstrates that a quintessentially English quality imbues every form of cultural expression—not just literature, but also painting, music, architecture, philosophy, and science.
In an intricate, expertly crafted mixture of narrative and theme, Ackroyd travels through time and across cultural categories as he seeks out the roots and the essence of the English imagination. With an irrepressible curiosity and contagious enthusiasm, he moves from Beowulf to Virginia Woolf, Hogarth to Hockney, Purcell to Vaughan Williams, Inigo Jones to Edward Lutyens. His lively biographical sketches and incisive exegeses of the work of figures both well known and less familiar deepen our understanding and appreciation of our inherited culture. Like London: The Biography, ALBION contains unexpected treasures, including a thought-provoking look at immigration and assimilation and a delightful digression into the English obsession with gardening. Black-and-white photographs and drawings, and two lavish four-color inserts add visual appeal throughout.
Ackroyd’s talent for distilling information and presenting it with novelistic flair shines on every page of ALBION. It is Peter Ackroyd at his most brilliant and exuberant.
(retrieved from Amazon Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:58:10 -0400)
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