Peter Ackroyd, Hawksmoor

Julia Christine Kuehn (University of Hong Kong); Paul Smethurst (University of Hong Kong)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.09: English Writing and Culture: Postwar and Contemporary Britain , 1945-present.
Vol. editors: Kerry Myler (Newman University), Jenni Ramone (The Nottingham Trent University)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1985

Places

England (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Crime and Detective
Novel

Resources

Peter Ackroyd has said that when he writes a novel he is primarily interested “in the formal shape of it, [and] the way things are balanced against each other” (McGrath, 46), and that writing Hawksmoor, his third novel, was “a sort of linguistic exercise” (Ibid., 45), with the principal task to construct a complex web that connects the past and the present.

The organisation of Hawksmoor suggests not so much a complex web as a switchback ride between the 18^th century (1712 -1715) and the 20^th century (1970s); chapters alternate between these times. The temporal disjunctions are bridged through a number of linguistic and historical devices or “tricks”. One such device is the …

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3353 words

Citation: Kuehn, Julia Christine, Paul Smethurst. "Hawksmoor". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 22 April 2005 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=4868, accessed 16 April 2024.]

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